TERMITES, THE DESTROYERS 8 1 



drilled first. Where softer wood had to be used 

 because it was less expensive and easier to work 

 with, it was treated with creosote poison. It is 

 my guess that even with these precautions the 

 busy termites will not let the stairs stand many 

 years without needing repairs. 



As the Americans cut down and burn the 

 tropical jungle and build wooden houses and 

 fences and railway bridges, they are taking away 

 one food of the termites, but giving them another 

 which suits them just as well, unless it is better 

 protected from them than it has been up to 

 this time. 



New ways to discourage the termites are tried 

 every year. I saw a little experiment made last 

 winter that tickled my imagination. In the jungle 

 live three different kinds and sizes of animals 

 called anteaters, for the very good reason that ants 

 are their chief food. They break open ant nests 

 and run their slender, sticky, wormlike tongues 

 down the tunnels, drawing them back covered 

 with ants. One of these anteaters is just as fond 

 of termites. He is shown in Figure 37 making 

 a good meal from a termite nest. On his strong 

 front legs are long claws that break through the 

 flinty shell of the nest. I wondered whether the 

 Canal Zone might not start raising herds of these 

 convenient anteaters to keep the termites down! 



Not all of the termites' work is harmful. Their 

 mining stirs and softens the ground just as the 



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