432 AUSTRALIAN TERMlTID.f:, 



The remarkable fineness of the earth collected by the termites 

 for their nests is put to a practical use by the natives of Ceylon,* 

 who use the clay to make moulds in which to cast the finer 

 specimens of silversmith's work; and it is also made into plastic 

 material for fashioning some of their earthenware gods, while in 

 India it is also used for polishing purposes. 



In Australia the large mounds are often demolished for the 

 sake of the clay they contain; it is mixed up with water and made 

 into sun-dried bricks for building houses, while beaten up into 

 mortar it makes excellent floors; both here and in South Africa 

 the smaller ones are turned into baker's ovens after the interior 

 has been burnt out. 



Another remarkable thing about the termites is that no matter 

 how dry the season, or parched up the country, if a nest is 

 broken no time elapses before it is mended with damp clay, while 

 the nest always contains a certain amount of moisture, without 

 which the termites could not exist. The question then arises, how 

 do they manage to retain this humidity in a rainless and dewless 

 country "? Dr. Livingstone! remarking on this in South Africa, 

 gayy; — "Can it be that they have the power of combining the 

 oxygen and h3^drogen of their vegetable food l^y vital force so as 

 to obtain water ?" 



The internal structure of the "Magnetic Nests" of Port 

 Darwin, the large round topped ones of the North- West, and the 

 pyramidal shaped ones of Cape York, though differing very much 

 in their external architecture, all, with slight modifications, agree 

 with the Shoalhaven termitaria in their internal structure. 



The next group of termite nests are formed by the members of 

 the genus Futer77ies, which form a very distinct group, in which 

 the soldiers, instead of having double scissor-like jaws, are pro- 

 vided with heads prolonged into pike-like foreheads which gives 

 them the name of "nasuti" soldiers. It was at one time a 



* Sir J. Emerson Tennant. Sketches of the Nat. History of Ceylon, 

 chap. xi. 1861. 



+ Dr. Livingstone. ^Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, 

 London, 1857. 



