264 IXSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



singular turrets in a group may be seen in the thick woods 

 at the foot of a tree. They are so very strongly built, 

 that in case of violence, they will sooner tear up the gravel 

 and solid heart of their foundation than break in the 

 middle. When any of them happen to be thus thrown 

 down, the insects do not abandon them ; but, using their 

 over-turned column as a basis, they run up another per- 

 pendicularly from it to the usual height, fastening the 

 under part at the same time to the ground, to render it the 

 more secure. 



The interior of a turret is pretty equally divided into 

 innumerable cells, irregular in shape, but usually more or 

 less angular, generally quadrangular or pentagonal, though 

 the angles are not well defined. Each shell has at least 

 two entrances ; but there are no galleries, arches, nor 

 wooden nurseries, as in the nests of the warrior {T. hellico- 

 sus). The two species which build turret nests are very 

 ditferent in size, and the dimensions of the nests differ in 

 proportion. 



The White Ants of Trees. 



Latreille's species of white ant ( Termes lucifugus, Eossi), 

 formerly mentioned as found in the south of Europe, 

 appear to have more the habits of the jet ant, described 

 page 243, than their congeners of the tropics. They live in 

 the interior of the trunks of tiees, the wood of which they 

 eat, and form their habitations of the galleries which they 

 thus excavate. M. Latreille says they appear to be fur- 

 nished with an acid for the purpose of softening the 

 wood, the odour of which is exceedingl}^ pungent. They 

 prefer the j)art of the wood nearest to the bark, which 

 they are careful not to injure, as it atfords them protec- 

 tion. All the walls' of their galleries are moistened with 

 small globules of a gelatinous substance, similar to gum 

 Arabic. They are chiefly to be found in the trunks of oak 

 and pine trees, and are very numerous.* 



* Lahvillc, Hist. Nat. Gent rale, torn. xiii. p. G4. 



