TERMITE TRUFFLES. 205 



insects are readily disturbed by the breath, and it is necessary to 

 watch them through a fairly strong lens. It is remarkable that a 

 nodule exactly fills the space between the mouth-parts when 

 these are fully open. Even the queen accepted a nodule and 

 consumed it in the same way as the others. 



On the contrary, I have never succeeded in inducing an adult 

 soldier or worker to accept a nodule. Indeed I found their 

 stomachs to be always filled with vegetable detritus, consist- 

 ing exclusively of finely divided particles of wood. In spite 

 of careful examination I could detect no trace of mycelial nodules. 



My experiments are not sufficiently numerous to permit a final 

 opinion as to the mode of feeding of the Termite species investi- 

 gated by me. Meanwhile it seems reasonable to suppose that 

 with this species the larvae receive a concentrated and easily 

 digested food in the form of the mycelial nodules and that these 

 constitute the permanent food of the sexual forms, while the 

 larvae of workers and soldiers after a certain age obtain other 

 fodder. Through this consideration the further inference is 

 suggested that the fodder plays an important part in the differ- 

 entiation of the " cells " in the community of Termes obscuriceps, 

 Wasm. 



I may here add some remarks upon the structure of the nest, 

 the material of the fungus plantations and the bringing of the 

 latter within tke Termite enclosure, which I have investigated 

 partly in Colombo, partly in Peradeniya and in the Northern 

 Province. 



It has been mentioned above that the dome-shaped nest with 

 its chimney-like terminals consists of a clayey substance. In its 

 construction the Termites employ earth, sand, clay from the 

 neighbourhood, and mix these materials together with their 

 glutinous saliva. They eject this saliva upon the human skin 

 when they bite, whereby viscid, brown, tenacious spots arise. 

 The bite is hardly painful. 



For the purpose of observation I placed portions of a nest into 

 a large glass receptacle and covered the entire mass which com- 

 prised fragments of the wall, fungus cakes, and thousands of 

 Termites, with a bell-jar in such a way to allow access of air. The 

 whole apparatus was exposed to diffuse daylight. It is well- 

 known that the majoi-ity of Termite species, especially the blind 

 workers, avoid the light. They immediately commenced in a 

 methodical manner to construct a roof over the fungus plantations, 

 using the debris of the nest for this purpose, notwithstanding 

 the fact that the royal cell with king and queen had been taken 

 away from them. Within a few hours they had roofed over the 



