100 UTILIZATION OF MINUTE LIFE. 



purpose, and these ant-hills are frequently filled 

 with transparent quartz and garnets. At Capula 

 Humboldt found the ant-hills filled with shining 

 grains of obsidian and sanidine. 



Ants belong to the family of Hymenoptera (bees, 

 cynips, etc.) ; but there are insects called white ants 

 (Termes) which belong to the family of Neuroptera 

 (dragon flies, ephemera, etc.). The latter are very 

 useful to man in certain parts of the world as an 

 article of food, though they certainly are most ter- 

 rible enemies to our habitations and furniture. In 

 France there are numerous examples of old houses, 

 or large pieces of furniture falling in, as a conse- 

 quence of the mining operations of the Termes. De 

 Quatrefages recommends us to destroy them by 

 means of a current of chlorine gas directed into 

 their galleries, as Thenard once effected the de- 

 struction of the rats of Paris by means of sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen.* 



In the torrid zone, where the Termes abound, 

 they build nests like hills, eleven or twelve feet 

 high, which are often mistaken at a distance for the 

 huts of the natives. Their habits are as interesting 



* The British Government has lately applied to the Entomological 

 Society to know the best means of destroying the white ants which 

 infest certain of our colonies. Several remedies (arsenic- soap, lime, 

 corrosive sublimate) were hinted at by the members, but chlorine 

 was not mentioned. 



