TERMITES (WHITE ANTS). 123 



mass of some grand cathedral. A broadside view of one of the most elaborately 

 pinnacled examples of this description of termitarium, observed and photographed by 

 the author in the Laura district, and closely corresponding with the one depicted in 

 Plate XX., is reproduced on page 122. 



Another more widely known variety of Meridian Ant nest occurs, and has 

 been seen by the author, on the Victoria river plains, some forty miles from Port 

 Darwin, in the Northern Territory of South Australia. To the kind courtesy of 

 Mr. Paul Folsche, for many years superintendent of the Police Department at 

 Palmerston, the writer is indebted for the very excellent photographs of these 

 remarkable Port Darwin termitaria that illustrate this Chapter. The Meridian 

 termitaria in this instance, as portrayed in Plate XXI., figs. A and B, are about the 

 same height as the Laura river type last described, but differ from them in being much 

 more solid and compact. There is also an absence of the ornately pinnacled plan of 

 architecture notable in the Laura variety, their upper edge as shown in profile being 

 nearly smooth or but slightly serrated. Another peculiarity of the Port Darwin 

 variety, pointed out to the author by Mr. Folsche, is the circumstance that they are 

 usually distinctly convex on the east, and concave on the west, of their opposing, broad 

 lateral surfaces. 



White Ant termitaria corresponding in aspect and structure with the Port 

 Darwin type, have been also reported to the author by Dr. T. L. Bancroft, of Brisbane, 

 as occurring in the neighbourhood of the Howard river, North Queensland. From a 

 photograph of them placed at the writer's disposal by that authority, it would appear 

 that they attain to a more considerable elevation, some of them, as shown by the 

 figures in their vicinity, being not less than nine or ten feet high. It is further 

 worthy of remark that, while in the Port Darwin district the Meridian Ant-hills are 

 erected on a more or less open grassy plain, their co- types near the Howard river occur 

 in the midst of a thickly timbered country. Possibly, on a nearer investigation, this 

 Howard river form will prove to be a third distinctly differentiated type of the 

 Meridian structural plan. 



The raison d'etre of the north and south directions of these Meridian Ant 

 nests has given rise to much speculation and various interpretations. By some it is 

 supposed to bear a direct relationship to the prevalent winds. As, however, these, in 

 the districts where they occur, are chiefly, according to the seasonal monsoons, south- 

 east or north-west, but predominantly the former, that theory would hardly appear to 

 afford a satisfactory explanation. A more probable interpretation presents itself to the 



