Insect Mushroom-Growers* 



33 



remaining part, and drags up the now severed disc, grips it with its jaws and 

 lifts it above its head. It then chmbs down the stem of the plant, into 

 the covered wav, and travels along it at a \-erv uniform pac(>, and (U'ix)sits its 

 load in the nest. 



The termites, too, who have borrowed so many of the habits of the real ants, 

 appear to have taken 

 a lesson from them in 

 the matter of fungus 

 cultivation. Smeeth- 

 man stated that some 

 species had special 

 chambers in their 

 nests which were de- 

 voted to the growing 

 of a fungus which the}' 

 used as food ; but 

 until quite recently no 

 confirmation of this 

 statement was forth- 

 coming. Now, how- 

 ever, Mr. Haviland has 

 found it to be true in 

 regard to several 

 species. In the case 

 of a vSouth African 

 termite, 1 he found that 

 the nursery cells were 

 built of a material 

 which produced a 

 fungus — a kind oi 

 mould — upon which 

 were innumerable 

 white bodies ; and a 

 similar condition was 

 found in some nests 

 explored at Singapore. 

 In Natal he discovered 

 a new species,- which 

 he found to be a liar- 

 vester, and there is 

 every probabilit\- tliat the material harvested is devoted to the cultivation of 

 fungi. During the heat of the da\- the workers issue from holes in the ground, 

 and with their well-de\-eloped jaws cut the grass into lengths of about two inches. 

 These pieces they carry to the mouths of the holes and often leave them there until 



1 Tcrmes angustata. - Hodotcrmcs havilandi. 



Photo In 



I Hi; ()kan(;e-tip Butterflv 



;,-p, F.I. 



When at rest this bright htlle butterflv often settles in proximity to i lusters of small white 

 flowers, whose lights and shadows blend with the green and white mottling o£ the under side 

 of the hind-wings. In the photograph the flowers arc those of the hedge-mustard, the plant 

 upon whicli the eggs are chiefly laid. 



