CiiAr. VI.] WHITE ANTS. 255 



munities of the genuine ants, of labourers and soldiers, 

 which are destined never to acquire a fuller development 

 than that of larvce, and the perfect insects which in due 

 time become invested with wings and take their depart- 

 ing fliglit from the cave. But theu- new equipment 

 seems only destined to facihtate their dispersion from 

 the parent nest, which takes place at dusk ; and almost 

 as quickly as they leave it they divest themselves of 

 their ineffectual wings, waving them impatiently and 

 twisting them in every direction tiU they become de- 

 tached and di^op off, and the swarm, within a few hours 

 of then" emancipation, become a prey to the night-jars 

 and bats, which are instantly attracted to them as they 

 issue in a cloud from the ground. I am not prepared 

 to say that the other insectivorous birds would not 

 gladly make a meal of the termites, but, seeing that in 

 Ceylon then- numbers are chiefly kept in check by the 

 crepuscular bh'ds, it is observable, at least as a coinci- 

 dence, that the dispersion of the swarm generally takes 

 place at twilight. Those that escape the caprimidgi lose 

 their wings before morning, and are then disposed of by 

 the croAVS. 



The strange pecuharity of the omnivorous ravages 

 of the white ants is that they shrink from the hght, 

 in all their expeditions for providing food they con- 

 struct a covered pathway of moistened clay, and thek 

 gaUeries above ground extend to an incredible distance 

 from the central nest. Ko timber, except ebony and 

 ironwood, wliich are too hard, and those which are 

 strongly impregnated with camphor or aromatic oils, 

 which they dishke, presents any obstacle to their ingress. 

 I have had a case of wine filled, in the course of two 

 days, with almost solid clay, and only discovered the pre- 

 sence of the white ants by the bursting of the corks. I 

 have had a portmanteau in my tent so peopled with them 

 in the course of a single night that the contents were 

 found worthless in the morning. In an incredibly short 

 time a detachment of these pests will destroy a press full 



