88 JUNGLE ISLAND 



half an hour, but I saw no more soldiers taken 

 from the trail, though many passed. 



The termites must have been moving out, for 

 as time went on fewer and fewer workers came 

 along the trail, and at last only soldier termites 

 were left. When this came about the ants went 

 away, leaving the field in the possession of the 

 squirt-gun w^arriors. 



Another day I found a tree termite nest which 

 had also some ant lodgers. The ants had taken 

 the upper and inner parts, where they kept their 

 eggs and babies. When this nest was broken 

 open, some of the ants were accidentally shaken 

 down among the termites. This time the soldier 

 termites went after the ants. When one attacked 

 an ant by himself, he might shoot at its legs, but 

 he preferred to climb on its back and squirt down 

 on it. When several joined in attacking one ant, 

 they gummed him up well with the clear, sticky 

 liquid from their guns. They often overloaded 

 an ant so heavily that he became quite helpless 

 and tumbled to the ground, termites and all. 



These battles, you will remember, were between 

 blind ants and blind termites. They were fought 

 by the sense of smell and the sense of touch. 

 Perhaps when the ants and termites live peace- 

 ably in the same nest it is because they do not 

 smell each other any more. We say, ''Out of 

 sight is out of mind." Their motto may be, 

 "Out of smell is out of mind." 



