170 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



disturbed, and the queen herself appeared incapable 

 of movement. 



The following week I opened a third white ants' nest. 

 In this nest there was a great number of fresh combs, 

 all full of eggs, pupae, and completely developed young 

 white ants. These young ants had their wings all ready 

 to be expanded, and seemed waiting for the moment 

 when they should make their exit from the nest, take 

 their one short flight, and have their one brief view 

 of the glories of the world above. I noticed that the 

 bodies of these young ants were of a milky whiteness 

 and appeared half transparent. The colour of the 

 adult ants is more of a yellowish brown, and their 

 bodies are quite opaque. 



I had two or three of these fresh combs placed under 

 the shade of a tree for subsequent observation. Warned 

 by previous experience, I was careful to have no earth 

 put over them. On visiting the spot next morning I 

 found that each of the combs had been encased by the 

 adult white ants of the nest with a thick coating of 

 their own prepared earth. The inmates appeared alive 

 and vigorous, and the combs will, no doubt, become the 

 nucleus of a fresh community. 



The number of white ants in this neighbourhood is 

 enormous. The whole country appears honeycombed 

 with their chambers and passages. They answer, 

 no doubt, some wise purpose in the economy of 

 nature, but what that purpose may be is not very 

 apparent. I thought at one time that the empty 

 chambers might serve in some degree as storehouses 

 for the rainwater, and so give moisture to the soil, but 



