CHAPTER V. 



TERMITES. 



THE habits of the Termites, or so-called White Ants, 

 have not been so closely studied as they deserve. Our 

 chief knowledge concerning them is derived from the 

 observations of Jobson, in his * History of Gambia ; ' 

 Eastian, in ' The Nations of Eastern Asia ; ' Forsteal, 

 Lespes, Konig, Sparman, Hugen, Quatrefages, Fritz 

 Miiller, and most of all, Smeathman, in 'Philosophical 

 Transactions,' vol. Ixxi. In Africa these insects raise their 

 hills H a height of between ten and twenty feet, and con- 

 struct them of earth, stones, pieces of wood, &c., glued to- 

 gether by a sticky saliva. The hills are in the form of a cone, 

 and so strong that it is said the buffaloes are in the habit of 

 using them as watch-towers on which to post sentries, and 

 that they will even support the weight of an elephant. 

 The growth of these gigantic mounds is gradual, increas- 

 ing with the increase of the population. From the mound 

 in all directions there radiate subterranean tunnels, which 

 may be as much as a foot in width, and which serve as 

 roadways. Besides these tunnels there are a number of 

 other subterranean tubes, which serve the purpose of 

 drainage to carry off the floods of water to which the nest 

 is exposed during tropical showers. Biichner calculates 

 that a pyramid built by man on a scale proportional to his 

 size would only equal one of these nests if it attained to 

 the height of 3,000 feet. The following is this author's 

 description of the internal structure : 



These internal arrangements are so various and so com- 

 plicated that pages of description might be written there- 

 ipon. There are myriads of rooms, cells, nurseries, provision 



