TERMITES, THE DESTROYERS 



Whether I tramped along a partly cleared 

 jungle trail or scrambled up a rocky, nearly dry 

 watercourse, I was continually catching sight of 

 rough blackish-brown balls fastened to the trees. 

 Some were only four or five feet above ground. 

 Others were eighty feet high (Fig .62). Some were 

 the size of footballs; some were three feet through. 

 In one mile I counted fifteen. They were the most 

 noticeable animal buildings in the jungle. 



One of these is seen in the picture of the stilt 

 palm near my spiked tree mentioned earlier, and 

 shown here (Fig. 30). Molino had struck off the 

 stony outer shell with his machete blade to show 

 me what was inside. The shell fell away and 

 showed hundreds of tiny runways within, with 

 small, white antlike animals hurrying about. 

 These were termites, often called * 'white ants," 

 but not ants at all. They are cousins to the 

 cockroaches, and are no more closely related 

 to ants than kangaroos are to men. 

 . Like the ants, the termites are a very old 

 family, and in the many years they have beert 

 on earth they have built up a way of living 

 together that is very like that of the ants. Some 

 of them live in the cool countries. I have found 

 them in Massachusetts and the Indiana sand 



68 



