90 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



The older travellers told of the invariable planning 

 out of the interior into definite halls, royal apart- 

 ments, nurseries, food stores, etc., and their sectional 

 elevations were copied into all the natural-history 

 works of the last century, just as were those of 

 the " mole's fortress," which looked like an iron 

 casting. Both have been shown by later investi- 

 gators to be largely imaginary, or at least idealized. 

 There are various chambers, it is true, and a special 

 prison-cell for the female ; but for the rest the 

 termitarium appears to be made up mainly of 

 labyrinthine passages, a style of architecture which 

 gives much greater strength than the vaulted halls 

 with wide-spanned domes. 



It must be remembered that " ant-hills " of 

 great size are the work of several it may be, many 

 generations, and often of several species. Bates 

 found at Santarem that the large hillocks contained 

 colonies of several different species, each of which 

 had a different way of utilizing the building 

 materials and kept strictly to its own part of 

 the structure a further parallel with the " sky- 

 scraper " that is let out in tenements xxcupied by 

 different firms or companies ! 



There is no entrance to these termitaria evident 

 from the exterior. They are all built up from 

 the ground under cover, and the entrances and 

 exits are at a distance, approached by under- 

 ground tunnels. Only when a big batch of the 

 winged males and females have reached maturity 

 are the outer walls pierced. Then the workers 



