SOME INSECT COMMUNITIES 61 



make a descent upon the builders. Should such 

 an encounter take place, and it constantly does, 

 the warrior Termites, with their scythe-like jaws, 

 make short work of their foes, a few rapid and 

 deliberate strokes of those powerful mandibles 

 sufficing to cover the ground with dead or badly 

 injured opponents. 



The Termites may be considered the vege- 

 table scavengers of the tropical forests, excavat- 

 ing all the inner tissues of the fallen trees and 

 branches, so that in an incredibly short space 

 of time nothing is left but a thin, hollow, outer 

 shell of bark. In many parts of India and Africa 

 they are a great pest and source of danger, for 

 they will burrow upwards through the timbers 

 of the houses, making no outward sign of the 

 work of destruction which they are carrying on, 

 so that the first warning of their presence is 

 generally a sudden collapse of some supporting 

 beam, which may bring the rafters tumbling 

 down, mere hollow shells excavated by these 

 tireless workers. On the whole, both the true 

 Ants and the Termites may be ranked amongst 

 those insects which indirectly are of service to 

 man, though occasionally causing him serious 

 inconvenience and loss. They are both natural 

 scavengers, the true Ants devouring animal 

 matter rapidly and in large quantities, thus 

 hastening the complete desiccation of animal 

 bodies, which if left to the slower process of 

 putrefactive decomposition would render the air 

 poisonous by their exhalations. In the same 

 way the Termites prevent the accumulation of 

 vast quantities of rotting vegetation in the 



