THE TERMITE, OR WHITE ANT. 367 



recent rain, and having done so, she communicates to her lord and 

 follower by some means, which to me are inscrutable, that she 

 thinks the lodgings will do. 



" The worthy gentleman at once casts off the tow-line, and he 

 and the lady of his affections buckle to without loss of time, 

 and excavate a home for the comfortable reception of the lady. 

 White ants are put to sad shifts at these times. Any dark nook 

 brings them to a halt, and the lee-side of a plate, tray, or the shady 

 side of a candlestick is often selected by the confiding female. In 

 all her arrangements the male appears to acquiesce without de- 

 mur. 



" Yanity and vexation are the natural results of such ill-con- 

 sidered domestic arrangements, and the expiring couple, exhaust- 

 ed with their endeavors to make an earthen nest out of a bamboo 

 tray and a cotton table-cloth, are scattered to the winds by the 

 first servant who may be pleased to screw up energy sufficient to 

 remove the debris of the evening meal, to make way for roaster's 

 breakfast next day. Of the subsequent career of the happy couple 

 it is out of my power to speak, never having had an opportunity 

 of carefully watching their movements." 



As to the Termites ©f Southern America, much information 

 may be obtained from Mr. Bates's valuable work on the natural 

 history of the Amazons. As many of his remarks simply prove 

 the identity of habits between the Termites of the Old World and 

 those of the New, I shall say nothing about them, but merely 

 give a brief extract of his observations. 



As with the species which have already been described, the 

 soldiers are the only individuals that fight. When, therefore, the 

 ant-bear tears down the walls of the nest and begins to lick up 

 the inmates, none but the soldiers are killed, they having come 

 out to fight the enemy, while the workers have all run away and 

 hidden themselves underground. In consequence, of this fact, the 

 economy of the nest is but slightly disturbed, and after the ant- 

 bear has gone away, the workers begin to raise their walls afresh. 



It must be remembered that the nests of the Termite are not 

 confined to the surface, but extend to a considerable distance in 

 the earth, the subterranean galleries being proportionately large 

 to the superimposed nest. Indeed, the greater part of the mate- 

 rial with which the walls and galleries are built is brought from 

 below and carried upward through the nest itself. There is no 



