_>hO PETCH : THE FUNGI 



as a rule that after starvation for a few days any ant would 

 eat the fungus taken from any nest, no matter to what species 

 the nest belonged. This result, and the fact that they would 

 also eat the conidiophore of any mould which was available, 

 supports Holtermamvs view that feeding experiments carried 

 <>ut with ants or termites in captivity are unreliable in forming 

 a true estimate of their normal food. 



A weeding out of other fungi as assumed by Moller appears 

 to be a necessity in the case of leaf-cutting ants, since the leaf 

 material is merely bitten into small fragments and is not 

 digested as in the case of the termites. The passages of the 

 fungus garden become narrower towards the upper layers 

 and finally are only large enough to admit the smaller workers. 

 For this reason, since foreign fungi are equally absent from 

 large and small galleries, Moller assigns a special weeding 

 function to the smaller workers alone. 



In the termite comb a sterilization of the comb material 

 probably occurs in its passage through the alimentary canal. 

 This would not, however, prevent the subsequent growth of 

 foreign fungi, and as these do not appear in the nest, a weeding 

 process is equally necessary in this case also. There is no 

 appreciable difference in the size of the comb passages, and 

 hence the assumption that this function is allotted to special 

 workers is superfluous. Two sizes of workers have howevei 

 been observed in a nest, of T< rrm a n demanni. 



Summary. 

 I. The existence of fungi in some termite nests is a 

 matter of common knowledge. In Ceylon fungi are found 

 in the nests of ground-inhabiting species, but have not yet 

 been demonstrated in the nests of those which inhabit trees. 

 The species here dealt with are Termesredemanni, Wasm.,and 



Vermes obaCltricepe, Wasm. both are ground-dwelling and 



mound»forming species. 



The termite hill is built of the earth excavated in making 



subterranean chambers, and was originally only a oon« 

 \ 'in-lit method Of disposing of this material. The chimneys 



