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~ hundreds of these little insects, which were about the same size 
and colour as a grain of wheat. They had worked their way up 
a small crevice between the wall and the floor, and had already 
constructed tunnels along the canes of the mat, having eaten the 
underside quite away. ‘These creatures never worked in the light— 
hence the formation of tunnels, which were beautifully constructed 
of small particles of clay or earth ; they were evenly built, and of 
uniform thickness throughout. He had seen one of these tunnels 
raised about six feet in one night, which was evidence as to 
their rapidity in building. Their mode of working a tunnel greatly 
interested him. On opening one of them he observed a continuous 
double line of insects, one line going up and the other down, and 
so admirably was the tunnel constructed that there was just room 
for the ants to pass each other without touching. The white ants 
were subject to attacks from a deadly foe in the shape of long 
red-legged ants, who generally succeeded in carrying off an equal 
number of white ants. The queen of the white ants laid about 
60 eggs in a minute, or 80,000 or upwards in the course of 24 
hours ; these eggs were instantly taken away by the workers to 
portions of the ant-hill where they were hatched, and the larva 
attended to and nursed until they were able to shift for themselves. 
In Java, a long piece of bamboo was used to fill the tubs used 
for bathing purposes in connection with wells from which the 
water was obtained. ‘The piece of bamboo he was speaking of was 
13 feet long. He happened to be taking his bath at 6 a.m., and 
on looking up to the ceiling he was surprised to find that these 
insects had been at work during the night, and had formed a 
tunnel from the floor up the interior of the bamboo tube to the 
ceiling and through the roof; and as a proof of the rate at which 
_ they had worked, the bamboo tube had been used at five o’clock 
in the evening before, which gave them only 13 hours at the most. 
He knocked the tube on the floor, which caused the insects to 
drop down by scores, and so far from being disconcerted or 
frightened by the suddenness of the movement, he was surprised 
to see them take their places in admirable order, ten or twelve deep, 
with here and there two or three single ants to separate the 
different companies. There were about ten of these bodies, and 
this orderly behaviour astonished him more than anything he had 
hitherto observed of their habits, for one would naturally have 
expected confusion at being thus roughly used. In conclusion, 
Mr. Halley said the white ants and others of the tribe were very 
useful in clearing away refuse animal and vegetable matter. 
. In a short discussion which followed, mention was made of 
colonies of small red ants, which had lately found their way into 
dwellings, and against the ravages of which it was very difficult 
to keep articles of food. If a bone was left on the table at night 
