280 



ENTOMOLOGY 



most of which have come from the south, and more species are liable to 

 be introduced at any time (Banks). 



Architecture. While many termites simply burrow in dead wood, 

 other species construct more elaborate nests. A Jamaican species 

 builds huge nests in the forks of trees, with covered passageways leading 

 to the ground. 



In parts of Africa and Australia, where they are free from disturbance, 





FIG. 282. Termite mound, Kimber- 

 ley type, Australia. After SAVILLE- 

 KENT. 



FIG. 283. Mound of the "com- 

 pass" termite of North Australia. 

 After SAVILLE-KENT. 



termites erect huge mounds, frequently six to ten and sometimes 

 eighteen or twenty feet high, with galleries extending as far . below the 

 surface of the ground as they do above it. These immense structures 

 (Fig. 282) consist chiefly of earth, cemented by means of some secretion 

 into a stony clay, with which also much excrementitious matter is mixed; 

 they are pyramidal, columnar, pinnacled or of various other forms, ac- 

 cording to the species, and are perforated by thousands of passages and 

 chambers, while there are underground galleries extending awa"y from 

 the mound to a distance of often several hundred feet. 



