OUT ANTS. ENEMIES 251 



Ours don't visit the others because the others don't have 

 anything ours want and because they wouldn't be wel- 

 come, anyhow. Visitors are so common that our ants 

 expect them, and don't get excited when they have to pro- 

 vide an extra meal. There are not very many people that 

 way any more. 



FLORENCE. Does the honeydew come out of the two 

 horns on the back part of the abdomen of a plant louse 

 or ant cow? 



KENNETH. No. Those two blunt horns are hollow and 

 f^'ve up a sticky substance to protect the louse from lady- 

 bugs and other insects, but it is never used on ants. 



FLORENCE. How can our ants find plenty of seeds 

 where there seems to be none? 



ALBERT. Didn't you notice last winter after the rains 

 that millions of them sprouted around here? In many 

 places half a dozen plants would spring up on every square 

 inch. But sometimes they are hard to find, especially 

 when buried. 



FLORENCE. An ant sixty feet from home was trying 

 to drag the body of a bee to the nest. I carried it home 

 for her while she stood on the body and waited. Did she 

 know of the time, distance and work I had saved her? 



CECIL. Ask something easy. 



FLORENCE. What insects resemble ants? 



KENNETH. Some kinds of each of the following : Bee- 

 tles, spiders, wasps, crickets, velvet ants, and termites 

 (white ants). "We told you once how to tell an ant from 

 another insect. 



FLORENCE. Do our ants care anything for honey- 

 dew ? 



CECIL. No. 



