ACROBAT COWS ARE DISCOVERED 261 



ALBERT. A man told me the Acrobats will build stables 

 any time of year, especially if cows are scarce. 



CECIL. Some writers say the dried honey-dew of plant 

 scales was the manna of the Bible, but that book doesn't 

 seem to say so. But it is true that in Australia one person 

 can gather two or three pounds of manna in a day. The 

 Arabs call it "man" and use it for food. Sometimes it 

 dries, peels off the trees and floats through the air like 

 snow. 



FLORENCE. I know of thirty-five Acrobats that built 

 a shed in another acacia tree, but had bad luck. Some 

 disease has killed all the cows, but the ants themselves 

 have set up housekeeping in the stable. 



DOROTHY. The bloom of the red-flower gum tree is 

 cup-shaped at the base. I found from one to twenty Acro- 

 bats in nearly every cup. Many bees were flying around, 

 but very few would enter a flower that contained ants. 

 However, one bee made the venture, but got shot and fell 

 to the ground paralyzed. But in a few minutes it recov- 

 ered. 



FLORENCE. That's something new. 



DOROTHY. Six ants were in one of the cups. One 

 clasped another by the back and held her while she gave 

 up some honey-dew to a hungry sister, mouth to mouth. 

 A second ant that asked for a hand-out was turned down 

 cold. I watched this thing go on until I got tired and set 

 Ihe prisoner free. 



KENNETH. Every evening for a week a band of Acro- 

 bats tried to burglarize the home of the Garden ants. The 

 Garden ants keep a pile of stones near the door. When the 

 enemy would appear these stones would be rushed to the 

 door and dropped in until the stairway was plugged up. 



ALBERT. Yes, and then the enemy would begin to 



