The owners do not build the house, nor nurse their babies, nor feed themselves. Often they do not even clean their own bodies. They leave all these duties to the slaves. The slaves feed their owners, and brush and clean them, as a servant cleans his master’s coat. When the ants are to make a move, the slaves pick up their masters, and carry them away.
How can they do that? The ants carry all burdens in their jaws. The slave and the master lock their jaws, the owner curls up the back of her body, and the slave carries her off.
The grip of an ant’s jaw is very strong. She can carry things much larger than her own body.
There is an ant which uses the pine needles for food. She carries the bits of pine laid over her back much as a man carries a gun. There is a little groove in this ant’s head, where the bits of pine rest. I have seen very large hills covered with carefully cut bits of pine needles. I think they have been sucked dry and then cast out.
There is an ant called the “parasol ant,” because it cuts off tiny bits of leaf, and carries them along. Each ant holds a piece of leaf over its head, like a parasol.
An army of this kind on the march looks very funny. These ants line their nests with bits of leaf, to keep the dirt from falling in.
These parasol ants are very large. Their nests cover a large space. The bits of leaf are cut about the size of a dime. The ants carry them in their jaws, each piece by a little end left for a stem.
We have some parasol ants in this country, in Florida and Texas, and there are many of them in South America.
LESSON IX.
WONDER ANTS.