If, after
months of separation, an ant from one half of the divided nest should be
put into the other he would be recognized at once and welcomed with joy;
but if a stranger were introduced he would be attacked and probably
killed."
"We had a great time with the ants at our house last summer," said Eliza
Jones: "little mites of red things, you know, and they _would_ get into
the cake-chest and the sugar-bucket, and bothered ma so she had to keep
all the sweet things on a table with its legs in basins of water. They
couldn't get over that, you see."
"Why not?" Mollie asked. "Can't they swim?"
"Ours couldn't; lots of them fell in the water and were drowned."
"Ants are usually quite helpless in the water," Miss Ruth said, "though
a French writer who has made the little folks a study, tells a story of
six soldier ants who rescued their companions from drowning. He put his
sugar-basin in a vessel of water, and several adventurous ants climbed
to the ceiling and dropped into it. Four missed their aim and fell
outside the bowl in the water. Their companions tried in vain to rescue
them, then went away and presently returned accompanied by six
grenadiers, stout fellows, who immediately swam to their relief, seized
them with their pincers and brought them to land.
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