Abiding Citiks 195 



you remember that ants work for the most part 

 witli the lieacl only, you will understand why that 

 portion needs to be tlie most nuiseular and power- 

 ful part of the body. A lobster has two yery 

 strong claws in front, because those are his light- 

 ing and prey-catching organs ; the ant's jaws 

 just answer in function to the lobster's claws, 

 and to our hands and aims, and, therefore, they 

 are correspondingly big and muscular. Male and 

 female ants do not haye to dig tunnels, to build 

 up ciiambers, to drag heayy weights back to the 

 nest ; tlierefore, they haye smaller heads and 

 bigger eyes ; they are adapted only for tiying 

 and for producing the younger generation. The 

 middle segments of the body, on the contrary, 

 are large and powerful in the males and females, 

 because tliey haye to work the wings ; while in 

 the workers they are smaller, especially in one 

 segment, because the workers are wingless. The 

 legs, howeyer, are fairly strong, since they need 

 to pull and to supply a lirm footing when the 

 ant is tugging hard at some heayy object. But 

 between the part of the body which forms the 

 attachment for the six legs and the abdomen, 

 or " tail," there is a single characteristic segment, 

 or stalk, yery thin and slender, which bears a 

 sort of scale, peculiar to Ihe ant family. 'I'he 

 side yiew, with the legs lemoyed, enables you 

 to note liow admirably the ant is adapted for 

 turning in almost any direction, and explains 

 that extraordinary tiexibility of body wliich you 

 must haye noticed wlieneyer you haye watched 



