THE WHITE ANT : A THE OB Y 



745 



Fig. 3. a, tunnel ; b, earth ; c, shreds of outer bark ; 

 d, remains of branch. 



twigs, and tissues, the moment the finger of decay strikes the signal. 

 Constantly in these woods one comes across what appear to be sticks 

 and branches and bundles of fagots, but when closely examined they 

 are seen to be mere casts in mud. From these hollow tubes, which 

 preserve the original form of the branch down to the minutest knot or 

 fork, the ligneous tissue is often entirely removed, while others are met 

 with in all stages of demolition. 

 There is the section (Fig. 3) of 

 an actual specimen which is not 

 yet completely destroyed, and 

 from which the mode of attack 

 may be easily seen. The insects 

 start apparently from two cen- 

 ters. One company attacks the 

 inner bark, which is the favorite 

 morsel, leaving the coarse outer 

 bark untouched, or more usu- 

 ally replacing it with grains of 

 earth atom by atom as they 

 eat it away. The inner bark is 

 gnawed off likewise as they go 

 along, but the woody tissue beneath is allowed to remain to form a pro- 

 tective sheath for the second company who begin work at the center. 

 This second contingent eats its way outward and onward, leaving a 

 thin tube of the outer wood to the last as props to the mine till they 

 have finished the main excavation. When a fallen trunk lying upon 

 the ground is the object of attack, the outer cylinder is frequently left 

 quite intact, and it is only when one tries to drag it off to his camp- 

 fire that he finds to his disgust that he is dealing with a mere hollow 

 tube a few lines in thickness filled up with mud. 



But the works above ground represent only a part of the labors of 

 these slow-moving but most industrious of creatures. The arboreal 

 tubes are only the prolongation of a much more elaborate system of 

 subterranean tunnels (Fig. 4) which extend over large areas and mine 

 the earth sometimes to a depth of many feet or even yards. 



The material excavated from these underground galleries and from 

 the succession of domed chambers used as nurseries and granaries 

 to which they lead, has to be thrown out upon the surface. And it is 

 from these materials that the huge ant-hills are reared which form 

 so distinctive a feature of the African landscape. These heaps and 

 mounds are so conspicuous that they may be seen for miles, and so 

 numerous are they and so useful as cover to the sportsman, that with- 

 out them in certain districts hunting would be impossible. The first 

 things, indeed, to strike the traveler in entering the interior are the 

 mounds of the white ant, now dotting the plain in groups like a 

 small cemetery, now rising into mounds singly or in clusters, each 



