INSTINCTS OF TERMITES, OK WRITE ANTS. 571 



destroyed by violence, or the tread of men or animals alarm tnem 

 When a person accidentally enters any solitary grove, where the 

 ground is pretty well covered with their arched galleries, they 

 give the alarm by loud hissings, which :nay be distinctly heard 

 at every step ; soon after this, their galleries may be searched 

 in vain for the insects ; but little holes are found, just large 

 enough to admit of their escape into the subterraneous roads. 

 These galleries are of sufficient size to allow the Termites to pass 

 and repass without stopping each other (though there are always 

 numerous passengers), and to shelter them equally from light 

 and air, as well as from their enemies, of which the Ants, being 

 the most numerous, are the most formidable. If the Termites 

 are dislodged from their covered ways, the various species of 

 Ants (which are probably as numerous above ground as the 

 Termites are in their subterranean passages) instantly seize and 

 drag them away to their nests, to feed their young brood. The 

 Termites are, therefore, exceedingly solicitous about preserving 

 their covered ways in good repair ; and if one of these be de- 

 molished for a few inches in length, it is wonderful how soon 

 they will rebuild it. At first, in their hurry, they run into the 

 open part an inch or two, but stop so suddenly that it is evident 

 they are surprised ; for though some will run straight on, and 

 get under the further part of the arch as speedily as possible, 

 most of them run back as fast, and very few will venture through 

 that part of the gallery which is left uncovered. In a few 

 minutes they may be seen engaged in rebuilding the arch ; and 

 even if three or four yards of their gallery have been destroyed, 

 it will be restored by the next morning, and will be found to 

 contain numerous Termites passing a*long in both directions. If 

 the gallery be several times destroyed, they will at length seem 

 to give up the point, and build another in a different direction ; 

 but if the old one led to some favourite plunder, they will 

 rebuild it again in a few days ; and unless the nest be destroyed, 

 they will never totally abandon their gallery. 



The galleries of the Termites are often carried beneath the 

 foundations of houses and store-houses, at several feet below the 

 surface : sometimes they rise through the floors ; but they are 

 frequently continued in the interior of the posts of which the 

 sides of the buildings are composed, following the course of 

 the fibres to the top, and having lateral perforations or cavities 

 here and there. While some of the Termites are employed in 

 gutting the posts, others ascend from them, entering a rafter or 

 some other part of the roof, in search (as it would seem) of thatcti, 



