On the March.
With a long blade of grass, I gently took up a little bundle, I hid it behind a stone, some six inches off. I took three bundles and hid them, lifting them with the tip of the grass-blade.
When all the bundles left at the hill were carried in, the ants went down the gates. But in a minute out came three or four ants. They ran about wildly and searched the ground.
They went in circles and looked over the ground with much care. The circles grew wider. At last one came up behind the stone and found the bundles.
The ant picked up one bundle and ran. Then this ant met the other ants, and, I think, told them the news. For at once the other ants ran up to the stone, and each took up a bundle.
Then they all ran into the hill. Can ants count? That looked as if they knew how many bundles they had. It also looked as if they knew that two ants must go for two bundles.
A man who took bundles from a march in this way thinks that the ants smell the hidden bundles. He says they will not search for them if you hide them in the earth.
LESSON VI.
THE FARMER ANTS.
You have heard of the spider which makes a den in the ground. You know that it puts a trap-door on its den, and plants ferns on the door to hide it.[6]