406 FETCH : 



following instance will serve to illustrate this. The nest in 

 question was situated in a tree at the edge of a road over which 

 the termites intended to cross. They travelled down the stem 

 by a well-defined track and reached the edge of the road in 

 regular column, but began to wander aimlessly when they 

 found that there was no track beyond. The soldiers then 

 took the lead, spreading out over a gradually extending front, 

 and carefully examining every dead leaf and twig in the way. 

 The workers followed, but apparently as they pleased, and by 

 the time the middle of the road was reached (seven feet) there 

 were three main streams extending over a front of about three 

 feet, with scattered workers, between and beyond them, 

 wandering in all directions. These three streams reached the 

 other side almost simultaneously, the remaining seven feet 

 being traversed in fourteen and a half minutes. During this 

 time side columns had wandered off up and down the road, 

 and the whole host appeared to be in the most hopeless con- 

 fusion ; but as soon as the other side had been reached, one of 

 the outer of the three main streams was selected (for no 

 apparent reason) as the permanent track, and the soldiers 

 immediately proceeded to call in all the workers from the other 

 two streams, and the stragglers from a distance of six feet or 

 more on either side. This they did by running in front of the 

 wandering workers, and tapping their heads vigorously on the 

 ground until the worker turned round and ran towards the 

 main column. Twenty minutes elapsed before all had been 

 collected and order restored. 



On another occasion an attempt was made to ascertam the 

 behaviour of the workci-s when the track was interrupted. 

 'J'he track, which ran over a sandy footpath, was swept away 

 for a length of al)out two feet. But the soldiers immediately 

 ran ba<;kfr(»m the outer half of the procession, and re-established 

 it practically on the same line as before. In another instance, 

 while, a pi-ocession across a road was being watched, a carriage 

 paKsed over it and crushed several of the workers ; the soldiers 

 briefly examined the dead bodies of tluii charges, but the 

 workers took no notice of the accident. 



Althou;.rh the majority of the workers are, at any given 

 niomenl proceeding in the same direction — outward in the 



