66 SANTAREM. Chap. I. 



after studying the habits of these insects daily for 

 several months, that the winged Termites were males 

 and females in about equal numbers, and that some of 

 them, after shedding their wings and pairing, became 

 Kings and Queens of new colonies ; also, that the 

 soldiers and workers were individuals which had arrived 

 at their full growth without passing through the same 

 stages as their fertile brothers and sisters. 



A Termitarium, although of different shape, size, 

 texture of materials, and built in different situations, 

 according to the species, is always composed of a vast 

 number of chambers and irregular intercommunicating 

 galleries, built up with particles of earth or vegetable 

 matter, cemented together by the saliva of the insects. 

 There is no visible mode of ingress or egress, the en- 

 trances being connected with covered roads, which are 

 the sole means of communication with the outer world. 

 The structures are prominent objects in all tropical 

 countries. The very large hillocks at Santarem are 

 the work of many distinct species, each of which 

 uses materials differently compacted, and keeps to its 

 own portion of the tumulus. One kind, Termes are- 

 narius, on which these" remarks are chiefly founded, 

 makes little conical hillocks of friable structure, a foot 

 or two in height, and is generally the sole occupier. 

 Another kind (Termes exiguus) builds small dome- 

 shaped papery edifices. Many species live on trees, 

 their earthy nests, of all sizes, looking like ugly ex- 

 crescences on the trunks and branches. Some are 

 wholly subterranean, and others live under the bark, 

 or in the interior of trees : it is these two latter 



