“ANT-COWS” 
29 
The leaves are really little stomachs, for just as juices in our stom¬ 
achs break up and dissolve our food, so does this liquid upon the leaf 
dissolve the tiny body of the insect into nutrition for the plant. 
Still another trap is the common plant known as the dogbane, which 
grows from two to three feet high, and has small pink and white bell¬ 
like flowers. It is found in Canada and the United States. This plant, 
unlike the others mentioned, does not trap in order to sustain life, but 
apparently to keep away those small insects which can render it no 
service. 
Now the butterfly and the bee are welcomed; for when they insert 
their long tongues in one of the glands and withdraw, they rub off 
pollen from the stamens, and on entering the next flower they deposit 
the precious dust upon a pistil, thus causing seed formation to begin. 
The small insects are not permitted to carry away the sweet nectar: 
after supping they find their tongues held fast by parts of the plant 
and, being unable to get away, are forced to stay and die of starvation. 
Thus, the plant allows to partake from flower to flower only those that 
can assist in its propagation. 
“ANT-COWS” 
/^\NEi morning a friend brought me a number of twigs and leaves 
'^'from various plants, together with a microscope, and invited me 
to look. And how many wonders even a small microscope reveals! 
These plant fragments had on them many tiny insects, some so 
tiny that with the naked eye I could tell scarcely anything about 
them. But the microscope showed them to be soft-bodied creatures 
of various colors, some green, some brown, some pinkish, others 
spotted or almost colorless. Some had wings, others were wingless. 
Some had antennae almost as long as their bodies and joined in 
various wavs. Some had tubercles on their sides, others had none. 
Some had beautifully colored eyes. And on most of them, near the 
tail on each side of the body was a short tube. These are called 
honey-tubes; for out of them is excreted large amounts of a clear 
sticky substance commonly known as honeydew. It often falls upon 
and varnishes the leaves and stems of plants, or when the wind is 
blowing it may fall to the ground as a spray. 
As a rule, wherever there are ants running up and down twigs, there 
