November i, 1882.] 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



443 



eaten by tliem, and to accomplish its work in safety, it 

 covers the food it is about to eat with galleries of clayey 

 earth. This earth is brought up from the sub-soil, and 

 so it goes on day after day, and year after year, bringing 

 up the sub-soil to the surface. In one year alone this 

 becomes a considerable layer averaging fully the one-eighth 

 of an inch I should say, but probably more. l\Ir. Darwin's 

 book, already referred to, shows the immense amount of 

 work that worms can do, and this is equalled, if not 

 surpassed, by white ants, where they are numerous. Mr. 

 Darwin tells us that in certain localities worm castings 

 are not found, but the white ant is nearly everywhere. 

 As a destroyer of man's labors undoubtedly the white aut 

 deserves much abuse ; but on the other hand, I am sure 

 he is a most useful insect. How often do we see in notes 

 and official reports on agi'icultm'e or in re\ne\vs on them, 

 people wondering how the plains of India arc aljle to 

 keep on growing crops without manure and deep ploughing; 

 but I have seldom seen any one suggesting that insects 

 are the principal cause of the fruitfulucss of the laud. 

 Insects, sun, rain, and a little cultivation at the time of 

 sowing, and weeding afterwards, are all that is necessary 

 to get a crop, not a bumper crop but a moderate one. 

 For eleven years all through the cold season I have 

 been in the habit of eating my breakfast whilst lying on 

 the ground, ami I have invariably watched the insects. 

 Almost everywhere the galleries of the white ant are to 

 be seen. There he is always at it, bringing up the sub- 

 soil, and converting dead vegetable matter into manure, 

 and that is why the habit of leaving a field fallow has 

 such good effects, for then the insects are able to go on 

 midisturbetl at their work In a forest they have it all 

 their own way, barring the birds, beasts, and other insects 

 that feed on them. The white ants' numbers are, all 

 sportsmen know, greatly reduced by a few sloth bears, 

 for they are very fond of them, and pheasants, partridges, 

 and many other birds eat them, also several kinds of insects.* 

 Besides the food already mentioned, white ants are very 

 fond of elephant's dung and cow dung. The galleries 

 are useful to them as a protection from the sun, and also 

 from other insects. How many kinds of white ants we 

 have in the forests of India I don't know as yet, but 

 1 think that there are two kinds, if not more. I am 

 not aware whether it is known or not, that white ants 

 are able to extract enough moisture from their bodies for 

 repairs to their nests. I have seen a large piece of an 

 ant hili repaired by them in dry weather very quickly, 

 when they were in the piece that had been broken off. 

 In that instance they appear to have thought that they 

 were in their own nest, and not in a piece of it only, 

 and they had no means of communicating with the ground 

 beneath, so they must have formed the muisture used 

 by themselves. In the case seen by me the covering 

 made over the broken part was a very thin one. 



I shall be very glad to hear of any hook on the white 

 ants of India, as I wish to find out all I can about them. 

 All the books I have read treat only of white ants of 

 otlier countries, and then only abusing them as destroyers, 

 and never looking on them as of any use. I am firmly 

 convinced that they are very useful in many ways in India, 

 and so are many other insects. We are all of us apt to 

 overrate our own works, and underrate the works of others, 

 and especially the works of insects ; but Mr. Darwin has 

 shown us what worms can do so thoroughly, that I have 

 no doubt many other small animals will be studied now. 

 I don't pretend to be a naturaUst, and shall be very much 

 obliged to any one who will correct me when I am wrong, 

 and also to any one who will send me any information 

 on white ants, or if any one will recommend any books 

 on insects that are wood-eaters. 



"White ants (Termes) belong to the order Xeuroj^tera, 

 and with the true ants {Hymenoptera) wasps, bees, and 

 hornets are, I believe, the only insects that form perfectly 

 organised societies. Herewith M. P. Huber's observations 

 on the subject : — " The great end of the societies of insects 

 being rapid multiplication of species, Providence has em- 

 ployed extraordinary means to secure the fulfilment of 

 this object, by creating a particular order of individuals 



.* We have seen the common grey Oeylou squirrel feasting 

 on white ants which had covered their galleries up the 

 stems of cotonut iiahus. Fowls are e.xceediugly fond of 

 them as food. — Ed. 



in each society, who devote themselves wholly to labour, 

 and thus absolve the females from every employment, 

 but that of furnishing the society, from time to time, 

 with a a sufficient supply of eggs to keep up the population 

 to its proper standard. In the case of termites, the office 

 of working for the soriety, as these insects belong to an 

 order whose metamorphosis is semi-complete devolves upon 

 the larvae — the neuters, unless these should be the larvae 

 of males, being the soldiers of the community. From this 

 circumstance per feet societies may bo divided into two 

 classes — the first iucludiug those whoso workers are larvae, 

 and the second those whose workers are neuters. The 

 white ants belong to the former class, and the social 

 Hi/menopt era to the latter." The societies of these Neuroptera 

 consist of five descriptions of individuals — workers or larvse, 

 nymphs or pupje, neuters or soldiers, males and females. 



(1.) The workers or luriue are the most numerous, and 

 at the same time the most active of the community, upon 

 whom devolves the office of erecting and repairing the 

 buiUlings, collecting provisions, attending upon the female, 

 conveying the eggs when laid to the nurseries, and feeding 

 the young larvte till they are old enough to take care of 

 themselves. They are distinguished from the jsoldiers by their 

 diminutive size, by their round heads, and short mandibles. 



(2.) The ni/mphs or pupce. — These differ in nothing from 

 the larvfe, and probably are equally active, except that 

 they have the wings folded up in cases {pterothecce). 



(Z.) The /tenters. — These are much less numerous than 

 the workers bearing the proportion of one to one hundred, 

 and exceeding them greatly in bulk. They are also dis- 

 tinguishable by their long and large head, armed with 

 very long subulate mandibles. Their office is that of sentinels, 

 and when the nest is attacked, to them is committed the 

 task of defending it. 



(4 & 5). — Males and females^ or the insects arrived at 

 their state of perfection. There is only one in each separate 

 society ; they are exempted from all participation in the 

 labours and employments occupying the rest of the com- 

 munity. Though at their first disclosure from the pupie 

 they have foiu* wings, they soon cast them, but they may 

 be distinguished from blind larvae, pupre and neuters by 

 their large and prominent eyes. 



The first establishment of a colony takes place thus: — 

 In the evening, soon after the first tornado, which at the 

 end of the dry season proclaims the approach of the 

 ensuing rains, these insects, having attained to their perfect 

 state in which they are furnished with two pair of wings, 

 emerge from their clay-built citadels by myriads and myriads 

 to seek their fortune. Borne on these ample wings and 

 carried by the wind, they fill the air, entering houses, 

 extinguishing the lights, &c., kc. The next morning they 

 are discovered covering the surface of the earth and waters, 

 and having lost their wings, which are only calculated 

 to carry them a few hours, are only capable of crawling 

 on the ground. In this state they are destroyed wholesale 

 by men, birds, reptiles, &c. " The workers, continually 

 prowling about their covered ways, occasionally come upon 

 some of these, and being impelled by instinct, they imme- 

 diately elect a king and queen, or rather father and 

 mother, of a new colony.* The workers, as soon as this 

 election takes place, begin to enclose their new rulers in 

 a small chamber of clay, suited to their size, the entrances 

 to which are only large enough to admit themselves and 

 the neuters, but much too small for the royal pair to 

 get through, so that their state of royalty is a state of 

 confinement all their lives. The care of feeding the queen 

 and her companion devolves on the larvre, who supply 

 them with food, and as she increases in dimensions they 

 keep enl.rging the cell. When the business of oviposition 

 commences they take her eggs from her, and deposit 

 them in the niu-series. She now continues to grow till 

 her bulk equals 20,000 or 30,000 workers, and gives some- 

 times from sixty eggs a minute, or eighty thousand and 

 upwards in twenty-four hoiu-s ! They live two years in 

 their perfect state. When the eggs are hatched they 

 are provided with food and receive every necessary attention 

 till able to shift for themselves. The royal cell has, besides 

 some soldiers in it, a kmd of body guard to the royal 



* This statement about only one mr/r- in a nest is quite 

 new to us. Oiu* impression was that, as in the case of 

 bees, there were many male insects although only one 

 " queen."— Ed. 



