THE TERMITES 



for the purpose. More commonly, if the excrement is not 

 used in building, it is piled in certain chambers in the peri- 

 phery of the nest. 



The most conspicuous type of nest is a tall, steeple-like 

 structure which may be 10-20 feet high and up to 50 feet 

 in circumference at the base. The outer walls of these nests 

 are as hard as concrete. Inside, the nests are usually divided 

 up into a number of chambers of varying size and shape, 

 connected by passages. The more central of these chambers 

 are inhabited by the royal couple — king and queen — by the 

 young brood and by various stores of food. Such nests may 

 also extend several feet underground. In other species there 

 is a central chamber suspended inside the much larger outer 

 part of the nest, almost like a wasps' nest hanging inside a 

 hollow tree. 



Some of the large Australian nests have the steeple-like 

 structure very flattened, so that it is almost tongue-shaped. 

 These are known as " compass termites " because the two 

 broader faces always point east and west. Although very 

 useful to the bushrangers, the value of this arrangement to 

 the termites is not known. 



Another type of conspicuous nest is built On trees. These 

 may be of irregular shape and placed flat against the trunk 

 or in a fork of the branches. Others are spherical and are 

 built all round thin branches. These may be conspicuous 

 objects in tropical rain forest and have been known as 

 " niggers' heads ". The nests on tree trunks are sometimes 

 surmounted by a number of V-shaped ridges built out from 

 the trunk which seem to protect the nest from water running 

 down the trunk. Another construction which has the same 

 effect is a series of overlapping flaps, shaped almost like a 

 hand with fingers and projecting all round one side of the 

 tree-trunk. Nests with such protections against rain are built 



171 



