214 AKTS. Chap. XI. 



scientific names to the different varieties, each of 

 which builds a different kind of nest; the natives 

 have only a general name for all the species. 



Mushroom-hived Vermes. — Let us begin with the 

 species which builds the mushroom-shaped edifice. 

 These singular hives, shaped like gigantic mush- 

 rooms, are scattered by tens of thousands over the 

 Otando prairie. The top is from twelve to eighteen 

 inches in diameter, and the column about five inches ; 

 the total height is from ten inches to fifteen inches. 

 After the grass has been burnt they present a most 

 extraordinary appearance ; near Mayolo they are 

 met with almost at every step. They are not all 

 uniformly built, as they appear at a distance, but 

 differ in the roundness or sharpness of their summits. 

 I opened a great number of these, and followed up 

 my researches day after day into the habits of their 

 inhabitants. These and all similar edifices are built 

 to protect the white ants against the inclemencies of 

 the weather, and against their enemies, which are 

 very numerous, and include many predaceous kinds 

 of fellow ants. 



The mushroom-sha2oed hive is not so firmly built 

 in the ground but that it can be knocked down by a 

 well-planted kick. It is built of a kind of mortar 

 after being digested in the stomachs of the ants, 

 When felled, the base of the pillar is found to have 

 rested on the ground, leaving a circular hollow, in 

 the middle of which is a ball of earth full of cells, 

 which enters the centre of the base of the pillar, and 

 the cells are eagerly defended by a multitude of the 



