Field- Laborers 6i 



A single colony of ants seldom covers less than two 

 square feet, and sometimes more than three; and as they 

 generally choose a fresh place every year, they really do a 

 great deal towards clothing bare places. 



In the sub-tropical parts of South America and India, 

 worms swarm out in endless numbers when the rain comes, 

 but in the tropics proper, except in the moister regions, 

 they are on the whole few. Not one was seen by Pro- 

 fessor Drummond in Central Africa, even during rain, 

 and he suggests that their place is taken in these parts 

 by the termite, commonly, though erroneously, called 

 the white ant. 



The white ant lives underground, and being quite 

 defenseless, it has such a dread of exposure that when 

 obliged to come out for food it brings some of the earth 

 with it, and builds a tunnel within which it always 

 remains. 



The food of the termite is dead wood, and not content 

 with what it finds on the ground, it climbs the trees in 

 search of it, toilsomely carrying earth for its tunnels 

 wherever it goes. There may be perhaps a few feet of 

 dead wood at the end of a long branch some thirty feet 

 from the ground, and the whole distance must be covered 

 in if the termite is to reach it. But as it does not know 

 exactly where the food desired is to be found, it more 

 often than not covers the whole tree with tunnels and 

 galleries made on speculation. 



The extent to which this tunneling is carried, and the 

 amount of earth brought up, are something incredible. In 

 some districts of tropical Africa there are millions of 

 trees covered with tubes, every one of which must be 

 plastered over with many pounds of soil. The tunnels 



