| Show H on n ts g Z 0 o 64 il allf I 1 V t 6 Z ik 71 4 4 al 1 MM 4 va A R IN A g S Z NAM V the ants clinging to the ceiling are filled with honey prepared by national geo geographic graphic society washington D C service of tourists visit the teach THOUSANDS garden carden of the gods in colorado each year they stand in awe before fiery red pinnacles etched against the blue sky they marvel at those fantastic rock formations the gods of mythology with their human shapes some of their hats most of their spears and a few of their cathedral spires towering about them in red sandstone they are re unaware of an ancient dramatic civilization liv living I 1 ng under their feet yet here in the sandstone ridges dwell divell creatures who might themselves have stepped from living myths creatures with yellow heads and large inflated translucent bodies who are perhaps the most self sacrificing beings known in fairy tales boys and girls are fattened by witches so that they may later be eaten with gusto in this race dwellen dwelling in darkness in the garden of the gods gods children are fed enormously so that a few may become clous and hang in underground cellars for months for years as living casks of honey this would be terrifying were these creatures human instead they are honey ants honey ants are and unlike any other insects in their translation of themselves into honey pots th they ey gather a honey not unlike that of bees and store it in round thin casks that let the beautiful ambel of honey shine through but the casks possess living trunks living heads living legs they hang by living claws to the cellar roof and open a living spigot when an imbiber comes to drink for this children are fed to enormous size and chambered in eternal darkness wonderful honey chambers the honey chambers where they liang hang ire are virtually death chambers except that life flows from them freely the severed casks of honey in the burial grounds form a nightmare thing cask rolled beside cask but beauty exists in the ants refusal to touch a lion honey ey cask after its owner has died the little crammed honey pots stand idle and untouched once they are rolled into the cemeteries be an alice in wonderland in such a home if you will come down that wide central centra stair having ducked into the rabbit hole passed sentinels at the gate and given the essential salute all is dusky dim only that glimmering round of daylight above you turn left down a long narrow passage which leads into deepen and deeper darkness S but the floor glints up with a firm polish the floor deliberately made smooth not merely worn smooth by the passing of innumerable feet and the walls are smooth and straight a sort of guide in the dark um m ml an act licks aichs her mandibles giving oft off a va vague gue sweet scent honey somewhere near is a honey cellar the ant has paused in working to take a good stiff drink A shaft descends darkly to the left cautiously down down to a great vaulted globe ll 11 lighted eted room the vaulted roof Is clustered with enormous hanging lamps no not lamps pale amber spheres han hanging gln about midway into the room occupying half the cellar space the globes glow with the light that lives in honey their pale gold color is the richness of lioney th that at scent rising from them Is the warm flavor of honey each globe is a living jewel nothing more nor less than tile the distended body of a living ant filled almost to bursting with limpid honey clutched to the roof by its claws they crowd the arched ceiling stir restlessly twist their yellow heads beads squirm their shoulders but do not loosen hold below them the clean walls slope to the level floor which Is swept polished made smooth but the roof is gritty purposely left rough for the claws to maintain perch an ant takes a drink the roof arches halt half again the lle height lIlt of the walls a cellar made deliberately libera tely for honey casks to allow free passage beneath space for keeping the honey cakes clean and the cellar tree free from mold there are little soft sounds as the great greal globes stir shift an arm r foot sway a little nearer to a nei neighbor abor careful dont dare lean you might break me and one turns a pointed yellow head toward an others the globes are not all clear ai amber liber queer dark planes streak them their translucent part Is inner skin stretched to ta balloon proportions pushing apart the dark planes of the outer bo body ay forming islands on a globe map of strange world seas suddenly an ant enters to drink she looks like these hanging ants yellow headed yellow but she years wears no inflated balloon tier her antennae lift inquisitively already the foretaste of honey is in her mouth she stands standa almost erect climbs to the hanging ant leans to its little close mouth open please obediently its mouth opens up comes a clear drop of honey pushed up by some inner movement to hang a moment listening glistening on the casks lower mandible before dropping into the waiting ants mouth she takes one two even three drops thank you you may close closed she climbs down and the little spigot mouth closes before the ant leaves she daintily wipes her mouth against the back of her hand down her back hair then trots off groomed well fed another ant enters another another each climbs to a chosen sphere says open please with that leaning of mouth to mouth and the mouth opens and up comes the honey drop but suppose they enter to deli deposit honey rather than receive it what then painfully slowly this time because so laden they are almost honey casks themselves the ants climb to the hanging casks place mouth to mouth open please and with antennae held back out of the way let drops of honey form on their mandi bles to enter the obedient casks this ney honey is almost white in its freshness As long lone t as drops are there to fall in the little spigot mouth holds open then the emptied ant relieved turns away and the globe clinging to the roof gleams larger more bulbous still with the added content it scarcely dares draw a full breath move an arm or shift a leg tor for fear this new weight and fullness will make it burst or fall developed into honey casks poor little doomed crea creatures what determined such a fate when young they resembled other ants they had the same two stomachs one private the other for communal use much that entered their mouths they never tasted for it passed at once to the communal crop to be fed later to the queen whose whose duties are like those of the queen bee to males resembling drones in a hive to workers or to baby ants but some showed an enormous capacity for food how they beg begged 9 ed their pale mouths open all the aimel time now these are honey casks late dusk in the garden of the gods the sandstone gods are cold and dark they have had their play of light all day while the red mounds of the ants stayed quiet with gates closed seemingly all inside were asleep yet few ants slept being busy most of them with underground t tasks now ants push out of that round tubular hold so fast they cover the mound if this wore were daylight no red red rock would shine yellow ants are everywhere by hundreds by thousands A ring of sentinels begins pacing the outer edges of the mound others guard the gate their heads thrusting up like soldiers with bayonets still 1 others move about the narrow platform surrounding the gate while one ant then twenty then the a whole column of ants move off over the ridge preparing tor for a march in the vales between tile the ridges far vir far away low scrub oaks in the light of the moon thrust up their dark thick leaves the ants know these dwarf oaks they move through straggly bunches of grass on a familiar path with scant deviation reaching the oak copse in fifteen minutes moonlight pierces the leaves sharply revealing the ants straddling up the stems clamber clambering ln out over leaves searching endlessly sometimes fruitlessly for new oak galls with their tiny flashes of shining sweet |
