SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 203 



TERMITE TRUFFLES.* 



By Dr. F. Doflbin (Munich). 



A MONG social insects the Termites [or " white ants "] have 

 ■^-^ been the object of the least amount of biological investiga- 

 tion. What has become known concerning their life and political 

 organization is to be found scattered chiefly in systematic works. 

 So it happened that one of the most interesting discoveries 

 connected with Termite life was hardly recognized in Science 

 although the analogous conditions among the ants had awakened 

 the highest regard. 



The faculty possessed by certain Termites of cultivating fungi 

 in their hillocks has been remarked and more or less clearly 

 portrayed by a succession of naturalists from the time of 

 Smeathman, 1781. I will not review the literature here as I shall 

 do this in a more detailed work. It may be mentioned that 

 hitherto no one has investigated the phenomenon in all its aspects 

 and that consequently, in spite of its importance, it has hardly 

 been touched upon in general biological literature. 



Thus I was completely taken by surprise as I opened a Termite 

 hillock in Ceylon not far from Colombo in order to procure well- 

 preserved material of Termite brains which I had promised to a 

 colleague. The nest had the form of a high arched dome, 

 terminating above in two chimney-like funnels. The height 

 amounted to 1-1| metre ; the funnels had a length of about 20-30 

 centimetres. 



Upon opening the hillock it was at once evident that its thick, 

 solid clay mass was traversed by a large number of chambers. 

 Each of these chambers had approximately the size of a cocoanut. 

 The walls were smooth and several or many narrow passages 

 connected each chamber with the neighbouring compartments. 

 Every chamber was filled with peculiar formations, namely, 

 brown cakes of a moist, friable substance which in form, size, and 

 structure strongly resembled middle-sized bath-sponges. One 



* Translation of an article by Dr. Doflein entitled " Die Pilzkulturen der 

 Termiten." published in the Verhandlungen der Deutschen Zoologischen 

 G-esellschaft (xv., Breslau, 1905), Leipzig, 1905, pp. 140-149, two text-figures. 



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