CHAPTER IV. 



TERMITES (WHITE AflTS). 



N comparison to their individual size, the only terrestrial animals, probably, 

 that by their concerted efforts produce anything approaching the colossal 

 fabrications of the Coral Polyps, are the so-called White Ants or Termites. 

 In this hypothetic parallelism it is of course not suggested that the organisms and 



their correlated products possess any homologous 

 relationship, since, while the Corallum or Coral Mass 

 is literally the internally secreted skeleton of the 

 associated Polyps, in the case of the White Ants the 

 huge fabrication is purely external or architectural. 



The very considerable di- 

 versity of both size and shape 

 that distinguishes the mounds 

 or termitaries con- 

 structed by different 

 species of White 

 Ants is familiar 

 to most travellers 

 in tropical climates. 

 In the northern 

 territories of the 

 Island-Continent 





**l 



W. SavUle-Kent, Photo. 

 TERMITE MOVNDS, ALBANY PASS, NORTH QUEENSLAND. 



of Australia some highly remarkable 

 distinctive types are found, and it is with 

 especial relation to a few of the more con- 

 spicuous of these, which have fallen within 

 the writer's observation, that the present 

 Chapter has been written. 



