WHITE ANTS. 



263 



either made purposely for the inhabitants to travel over 

 with more safet}^ or else, which is not improbable, worn 

 by frequent treading. 



Turret-building White Ants. 



Apparently more than one species smaller than the pre- 

 ceding, such as the Termes mordax and T. atrox of Smeath- 

 man, construct nests of a very different form, the figures 

 of which resemble a pillar, with a large mushroom for a 

 capital. These turrets are composed of well-tempered 

 black earth, and stand nearly three feet high. The conical 

 mushroom-shaped roof is composed of the same material, 

 and the brims hang over the column, being three or four 

 inches wider than its perpendicular sides. Most of them, 



Turret A'ests of White Auts. One nest is represented eut tlirough, witli the upijer part 

 lying on tlie ground. 



says Smeathman, resemble in shape the body of a round 

 windmill, but some of the roofs have little elevation in the 

 middle. When one of these turrets is completed, the 

 insects do not afterwards enlarge or alter ; but if it be found 

 too small for them, they lay the foundation of another at a 

 few inches' distance. They sometimes, but not often, begin 

 the second before the first is finished, and a third before 

 they have completed the second. Five or six of these 



