198 ANTS AND CHILDREN OF THE GARDEN 



Acrobats at this time and bind them together with a film so 

 the ants can't walk. 



ALBERT. I kept a patch of ground wet from three 

 o'clock until midnight, and several of our ants were drink- 

 ing every time I looked. 



KENNETH. I think I ought to say that last summer 

 nearly all our dusty workers would sink when dropped in 

 water. Hardly any of them do now. Even when pushed 

 under water they come up like a rubber ball. Water 

 doesn't wet them. One floated all night. 



CECIL. Maybe they were well-fed, heavy and dusty last 

 summer, but are empty, full of air, light, oiled and glossy 

 now. You know the saliva has a little oil in it. This shines 

 the body and kills bacteria and moulds and helps make the 

 ants float. 



KENNETH. I see. They have little to do now but 

 arrange their toilets and get ready to float when the 

 flood comes. Well, I think there is more to learn about this 

 floating. 



DOROTHY. So do I. I thought I'd water the ants, and 

 so gave them some in a can lid. It ran up their legs and 

 pulled seven in. They floated a while, and then all sank. 



CECIL. Yes, but it began to drizzle at ten o'clock at 

 night, and kept it up for six hours. Nine more ants fell 

 into the lid of water, but floated from midnight until eight 

 o'clock the next morning, eight hours, and were then well 

 and lively. Even the rain didn't sink them. 



FLORENCE. Dorothy, what became of the seven ants 

 that you saw go to the bottom? 



DOROTHY. I took them out sixteen hours after I 

 thought they were drowned and in an hour they came to 

 and went to work. Maybe they were sorry they missed the 

 diizzle, for the other ants seemed to like it. 



