SWARMING OF THE WHITE ANTS 125 



primitive one ; it is the more wasteful, and suited only 

 to small and lowly-organized creatures. 



It may seem strange, seeing how numerous white 

 ants are in India, that naturalists know so little about 

 their life-history. The percentage of bungalows in this 

 Land of Regrets which are free from these pests must 

 be small. Almost daily do we discover some fresh 

 evidence of their ravages. 



Their latest exploit has been to devour the most 

 savoury portions of my cricket-bat ! Yet we know so 

 little of their life-history. The fact is that the condi- 

 tions of the life of termites are so peculiar that it is 

 most difficult to watch them. They shun both light 

 and air. They are creatures of darkness, and black are 

 their deeds. Except for the short time that they 

 possess wings they seem unable to live if exposed to 

 light. They do everything in secret. They discover 

 by some unknown means a decayed beam in the roof 

 of the bungalow ; the whole colony forthwith set to and 

 proceed to tunnel through the wall from bottom to top. 

 If perchance they come to a hard part into which they 

 cannot dig, they go to the surface of the wall and there 

 construct of mud a covered tunnel to hide their comings 

 and goings. 



They have soft, succulent bodies, highly esteemed as 

 food by insectivorous animals ; hence their fear of 

 showing themselves. When taken out of the dark, 

 underground world in which they live, they will do 

 nothing, and, as the naturalist cannot observe them 

 without light, matters are at somewhat of a deadlock. 



There are supposed to exist nearly a thousand 



