CH. VIII.] THE WHITE ANT. 167 



calculated to regulate the temperature of the inte- 

 rior. There are also large subterraneous galleries, 

 to which the Roman sewers are not to be compared, 

 when the size of the worker is taken into account. 

 Some of these are thirteen inches in the bore, ex- 

 tending more than a hundred yards under ground, 

 and forming the great thoroughfares of the commu- 

 nity. The tender body of the termites, compared 

 with the armour-like integument of their mortal ene- 

 mies the ants, makes it necessary for them thus to 

 conceal themselves in their covered roads. 



These galleries wind spirally up to the top of the 

 hill. By this contrivance the ascent is rendered 

 easier to an insect toiling under its load. Let us 

 only conceive a man carrying a heavy weight up a 

 ladder two thousand eight hundred and eighty feet, 

 and we shall have some notion of the labour saved 

 by inclining the ascent. The distance too is short- 

 ened by another ingenious contrivance : an arch is 

 thrown from one frequented spot to another; and 

 one of these when measured has been found to be 

 ten inches in length, half an inch in width, and one- 

 fourth of an inch in thickness ; and, according to 

 Smeathman, it was not excavated, but projected 

 from one point to another. It would be curious to 

 know the site of these arches in different hills, as 

 proving how far they might or might not be varied 

 with the exigencies of each community. 



Having thus described the city, some account 

 shall now be given of its inhabitants. In the sub- 

 joined engraving : the first (fig. 1) represents the 

 king, which, after losing its wings, never seems to 

 increase in bulk. The next (fig. 2) is a labourer 

 magnified ; it is less than a quarter of an inch in 

 length. If its formidable jaws be examined, and its 

 immense industry and activity be considered, the ef- 

 fects resulting from the labours of myriads of these 

 insects will scarcely excite surprise. The next 

 (fig. 3) is the soldier, with its huge head armed with 

 I. 



