A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



But there is no aristocratic repose in the royal chamber, and the 

 workers have no excessive respect for the queen; for that matter, 

 the latter serves the termites as a sort of sweetshop ! From time to 

 time large drops of a clear fluid exude from the queen's abdomen, and 

 these are at once eagerly licked up by the workers. Even the perspira- 

 tion springing from the obese body during its strenuous labours is 

 licked up, and when the queen grows old, and perspires no longer, 

 the workers do not scruple to bite into her skin and tear away whole 

 shreds of it. 



It is part of the workers' duty to cleanse and feed the king also. 

 Straddling he stands beside his spouse, like her, larger than the 

 workers, who run between his legs, while he admonishes them from 

 time to time, by butting them with his head, not to neglect him. 

 Some smaller soldiers run to and fro among the workers, acting as 

 police and overseers, while a ring of larger soldiers surrounds the 

 whole throng, from which the abdomen of the queen rises like a 

 mountain, all their mandibles being directed outwards, in order to 

 defend her against any impertinent intrusion. 



A monotonous existence, to spend all her life in a dark cell, 

 and lay an egg every two seconds ! Only in her youth, and then only 

 once, does the queen see the light of day. When the time has come 

 for the termite community to multiply, the whole nest is full of 

 thousands of winged males and females, who await in all the chambers 

 and corridors the signal for nuptial flight. First of all workers 

 and soldiers appear outside the nest, and make sure that no danger 

 threatens ; then they hurry back, and the signal is heard ; and now 

 the winged throng discharges itself like pattering raindrops from a 

 thundercloud. Once in Ceylon I had the good fortune to witness 

 the departure of these white insects, not unlike our Mayflies in 

 appearance. In the uncertain glimmer of a stormy evening sky 

 whole clouds of these insects rose into the mysterious darkness, their 

 glittering wings filling the air with a shimmer of mother-of-pearl. 

 But the sheer beauty of the spectacle was spoiled when I drew 

 nearer. The ground was covered with fat toads and lizards and other 

 creatures : some had climbed half-way up the tree ; they were all 

 busily swallowing, and the termites thronging forth on their nuptial 

 flight left their dark corridors not for the cool open air, but for the 

 jaws of a devouring enemy. 



If one happens to be sitting by an open window with a lamp on 

 the table when a swarm leaves its nest anywhere in the neighbour- 

 hood, the table is immediately covered with the fat white insects. 



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