TERMITES. 199 



chambers, guard-rooms, passages, corridors, vaults, bridges, 

 subterranean streets and canals, tunnels, arched ways, steps, 

 smooth inclines, domes, &c., &c., all arranged on a definite, co- 

 herent, and well-considered plan. In the middle of the build- 

 ing, sheltered as far as possible from outside dangers, lies the 

 stately royal dwelling, resembling an arched oven, in which the 

 royal pair reside, or rather are imprisoned ; for the entrances 

 and outlets are so small, that although the workers on ser- 

 vice can pass easily in and out, the queen cannot ; for during 

 the egg-laying her body swells out to an enormous size, two or 

 three thousand times the size and weight of an ordinary worker. 

 The queen, therefore, never leaves her dwelling, and dies 

 therein. Round the palace, which is at first small, but is later 

 enlarged in proportion as the queen increases in size until it is 

 at least a yard long and half a yard high, lie the nurseries, or 

 cells for the eggs and larvae ; next these the servants' rooms, or 

 •cells for the workers which wait on the queen ; then special 

 chambers for the soldiers on guard, and, between these, nume- 

 rous store-rooms, filled with gums, resins, dried plant-juices, 

 meal, seeds, fruits, worked-up wood, &c. According to Bett- 

 ziech-Beta, there is always in the midst of the nest a large 

 common room, which is used either for popular assemblies or as 

 the meeting and starting point of the countless passages and 

 chambers of the nest. Others are of the opinion that this space 

 serves for purposes of ventilation. 



Above and below the royal cell are the rooms of the workers 

 and soldiers which are specially charged with the care and de- 

 fence of the royal pair. They communicate with each other, as 

 well as with the nursery-cells and store-rooms, by means of 

 galleries and passages which, as already said, open into the 

 common room in the middle under the dome. This room is 

 surrounded by high, boldly projected arched ways, which lose 

 themselves further out in the walls of the countless rooms and 

 galleries. Many roofs outside and in protect this room and 

 the surrounding chambers from rain, which, as already said, is 

 drained away by countless subterranean canals, made of clay 

 and of a diameter of ten or twelve centimetres. There are 

 also, under the layer of clay covering the whole building, 

 broad spirally winding passages running from below to the 

 highest points, which communicate with the passages of the 

 interior, and apparently, as they mainly consist of smooth in- 

 clines, serve for carrying provisions to the higher parts of the 

 nest.^ 



> Log. cii., p. 189. 



