104 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



[Feb. 6, 1885. 



special case, this has involved a journey of 28 feet — i.e., 

 9 feet to the -water level and .") feet up the tree, tn and fro, 

 and that this journey is performed at least 100 times by 

 one pellet-laden termite. Enormous as is his power, and 

 patient his disposition, no elejihant could proportionately 

 cairy on such work. 



Setting aside the tunnel, we are still more amazed when 

 contemplating an anthill, and the enormous labour implied 

 therein ; for not only does the hill rL^e from 4 to 6 ft^ 

 above the ground, with a circumference of G to 18 ft., but 

 its formation rests on the subsoil water-line, whence comes 

 all the moisture used in its construction. 



The source of their water-supply puzzled Livingstone, 

 and he hazarded the untenable idea that termites had the 

 power of composing water. 



Let us overturn this young hill, the exterior of which is 

 rough with myriads of pellicles of mud deposited from 

 within ; immediately a great central tunnel, with a care- 

 fully-smoothed interior, is exposed, and around it, minor 

 passages leading directly downwards; if we patienth follow 

 these downwards, we meet a large round or oval masp, 

 exactly like a coarse sponge made of mud, lined with rude 

 paper, and thickly dotted with myriads of small white 

 point.'!, like microscopic fungi ; these are the eggs in various 

 stages of development 



In the centre of all i, the cell, in which, immured for 

 life, lies the hideous bloated queen, the mother of the busy 

 ant-hive we have disturbed ; though she is a prisoner for 

 life, her cell is her royal preseuce-chamber, and not onlv is 

 it crowded with workers, but her own royal body is densely 

 covered with them, and it is marvellous how she can hear 

 their weight. Her function is life, that of her progeny, 

 death. 



Immured in that cell, personality, or rather individuality, 

 is lost, and nought remains but a living and ever-active 

 matrix, ever extending geims of destructiveness. And the 

 never varjing and indomitable resolution with which the 

 foraging expeditions of these are carried out, in spite of all 

 obstacles, is as marvellous as the completeness of the de- 

 struction they effect if undisturbed. 



As they sutler from chronic photiphobia, all their attacks 

 are carried on under cover, and are therefore the more 

 difficult to guard against. We know how busy a scourer 

 the common ant is ; but it works honestly above ground, 

 and in broad daylight ; the white ant, on the other hand, 

 lives in eternsil twilight, or darkness profound, never sh.ws 

 itself on the surface unless by accident, and Ven scuttles 

 back underground as quickly as possible. Yet, under 

 these disadvantages, the white ant posse-ses an instinct ffir 

 at once detecting the whereabouts of food, which is truly 

 marvellous and inexplicable. 



Let me explain. The choicest bonne honche which you 

 ■can offer a termite is a bit of deal. Nought cares he for 

 the saccharine snares which prove so fatal to his darker 

 cousin. Lay out a bit of deal in the open moonliiiht, and 

 as sure as yoa return to it in the morning vou will finH it 

 covered with ant mud, and being ureedily devoured. Move 

 away the mud, and ynu dis'U'b an's in huT.dred.", making 

 as fast as [)05sible for the pinhole in the ground just below 

 the wood, whence they emerged. 



Now, how was that t-it of wood detected 1 Let us suppose 

 that it was di.-coveied at night by a foraging termite. 

 Having found the treasure he scuttles back to the hole 

 whence he emerged, conve\s the joyful news, as also the 

 proper bearings of the Ijit of deal, and then a shaft is driven, 

 reaching exactly b-low the wood. But this is inconsistent 

 with facts, for no chr.icer morsel exi-ts than a termite, Hnd 

 night prowlers would certainly cafx-h him if he emerged 

 from cover and went foraging about. We are therefore 



driven to the conclusion that a wonderful and unerring 

 instinct enables the colony to drive a sap directly under the 

 bit of deal. 



Again, place a lump of sugar on the beam in the tower 

 whence hangs the church bell, and it may remain there for 

 ages without attracting a black ant ; but however 

 thoroughly and substantially that tower has been erected, 

 that beam, and the other beams in that church, have been 

 marked for attack or annexation in true Russian fashion, 

 and as surely will be attempted in process of time by these 

 indefatigable termites. Mark what this means. The 

 church has been constructed of well-burnt bricks and pro- 

 perly-tempered mortar, but a weak point has been found, 

 and there a pigeon-quill-like tunnel is commenced. Bit by 

 bit the mortar is either picked out by the mandibles, or, I 

 believe, dissolved by formic acid, and slowly tKe sap goes 

 on until a beam is reached, and then the rest is easy. In 

 the case of an ordinary bungalow, built with sun-dried 

 bricks and mud mortar, the thatch and its beams are fully 

 in possession of the enemy before six months are expired. 



What is implied in this latter fact ? How has that 

 suViterranean colony discovered the existence of the bunga- 

 low built over it, and how do its inmate^ know for certain 

 that beams worth attacking are 2-5 to SO ft. above their 

 heads ? I can only hizard the idea that as "south-east" is 

 the instinctive hanging of the Russian hordes, so " ex- 

 celsior " is the eternal craving of the termite race. 



Books and papers are choice subjects of attack, and it 

 is marvellous what irrepaiable harm can be effected in one 

 night. In our houses we can protect ourselves by keeping 

 everything away from walls, and mounting our boxes on 

 bottles, which they cannot climb, and we place metal discs 

 under all legged or footed furniture. 



While on the march we have to be specially vigilant, for 

 our tents and carpets are made of cotton fibre, which white 

 ants simply idolise. Natives believe that termites will 

 destroy anything and everything, and many of their own 

 laches are laid to the credit of these marauders. I will 

 give a singular illustration of native ciedulity in this 

 respect, which occurred under my own eve during the 

 Mutiny. The treasurer at Arrah had received orders from 

 the Collector to overhaul the treasure-chest, and gave in 

 his report, in my presence, that the rupees were all correct, 

 except one, which had been eaten by white ants. 



Amused to hear this, 1 asked for the rupee, which was 

 sent for inspection next day ; true enough, it was much 

 disfigured, and bore marks as of mice teeth very distinctly, 

 but a certain amount of rust upon it induced me to take a 

 look at the treasure-chest itself, and the explanation of the 

 defaced rupee lay before me ; the bag which held it had a 

 slight hole, sufficient to allow a bit of this rupee's edge to 

 protrude : this bit had been in contact with the head of an 

 iron nail in the chest, and galvanic action had been excited 

 • — the silver going to the nail-head, and its iron to the 

 rupee. So the white ants were pronounced not guilty. 



{To he continued.') 



Last week's Electrician contains a well-psecnted portrait of Mr. 

 Wiilonghby Smith, one of the fathers of ocean telegraphy, and 

 ex-President of the Society of Telegraph Engineers. 



Inz Dundee Adiertiser states that for a long time it has been 

 known to a few of the leading mining men in Fife that a large area 

 of coal lay between the well-known and extensive colleries of the 

 Perth Coal Company and the Cowdenknowes Coal Company. These 

 fields areabontto be opened np by a large limited liability company, 

 and all the latest improvements in mininsr are to be utilised. The 

 output expected is 10,000 tons a day, and as there is a proved thick- 

 ness of 151 ft. G in. — not including shale — the colliery will last 

 for many years to come and will give employment to a great 

 number of men. 



