2oS LIFE : OUTLINES OF GENERAL BIOLOGY 



which are greedily Hcked oil by the termites, the pets receiving 

 regurgitated food in exchange. It must be admitted, however, that 

 some of tlie |)ets and guests help themselves to young termites — of 

 which there is a plethora. Most of the termitophiles are small beetles, 

 but there are representatives of other orders, such as Diptera. 



Wry remarkable is the development of a pathological condition 

 called j)hysogastry, among some of the ix'ts. It involves an ugly 

 enlargement of the abdomen, an accumulation of fat, even blindness 

 and wingKssness, and it is regarded by Prof. W. M. Wheeler as the 

 direct nemesis of the confinement within narrow galleries and 

 chambers, the very limited supply of oxygen, the absence of light, 

 and the abundance of carbohydrate food. This "physogastry" is one 

 of the few phenomena in Wild Nature approaching an occupa- 

 tional or environmental disease. 



Termites are often devoured by other animals, from ants to ant- 

 caters, the largest enemy being the Aard-\'ark, which burgles some 

 of the big African termitaries, whipping in thousands of workers on 

 his long, worm-like gluey tongue. The termite mounds sometimes 

 sludter other animals, such as scorpions, snakes, lizards, and even 

 birds; but very little is known in regard to these associations. Most 

 are probably casual and of short duration, for the termites have 

 irresistible jaws and also the ix)wcr of emitting a strongly corrosive 

 secretion. Yet K. H. Cowles has found that in Natal the huge monitor 

 lizard, Varanus niloticus, habitually lays its eggs in the shelter of a 

 ground termitary. In British Guiana a tree-termitary is similarly 

 utilised by the large Teju lizard. 



A (juaint detail has to do with a particular caste of soldiers, called 

 nasuti, which are not provided with the usual exaggerated mandibles. 

 They squirt out from tlieir mouth a jet of glue-like secretion which 

 proves very embarrassing to such assailants as true ants. F^or the 

 inveterate antipathy between white ants and true ants is another of 

 the mauy linkages. When true ants get a footing in a termitary they 

 are very difticult to dislodge, but they show a strong dishke of the 

 nasuti! 



Our point is clear, that if we could imaginatively place one 

 leg of a giant pair of compasses in a termitary and describe a circle 

 on a large scale with the other leg, how many other circles would 

 it intersc^ct - from trees to fungi, from ants to ant-eaters, from 

 Infusorians to beetles, and so on and on. The circle of human life 

 is also intersected, and that in many ways. Everything wooden 

 yields Ix^fore the ap|X'tite of termites, and they do great damage 

 to floors and rafters, to furniture and boxes, to books and papers. 

 In many places w(X)ck<n teUgraph-jx>sts are quite out of the question, 

 and one has heard of situations where it is dangerous for a man with 

 a wcKxlen leg to rest too long! The houst^wife in tropical and sub- 

 tropical countries has periodic searchings for the queen termite, 



