324 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
Grosso, and the interior of Ceara, Maranhao, and Piauhy. Mr. Cran- 
dall tells me that he finds them most common on the Diamantina 
Plateau. 
STRUCTURES ABOVE GROUND. 
General characteristics—The nests of the white ants, or cupim, 
have no visible external openings. When a mound is new or is 
, 
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pis 
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Be 
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7 ay 
Yip 
; ef leat ae 
We Dipper Toast . 
Fie. 5.—Above-ground structure of white ants. 
[Seven kilometers west of Queluz, between Piquiry and S. Gongales, State of Minas Geraes. From a 
photograph by the author, Aug. 4, 1907.] 
being added to, the outside of the new portion is so soft that it can 
be readily broken off with a stick; but with time the outside usually 
becomes as hard as a sun-dried brick. This hard outside covers the 
entire mound, and is usually about 6 inches thick, but in the very 
