THE WHITE ANTS. 



been carried beneath the ground surrounding their base, and 

 which supply covered ways by which the workers are enabled to 

 go forth in quest of provisions. The interior of the mounds 

 themselves are of most curious and complicated structure, con- 

 sisting of a variety of chambers and corridors, formed with the 

 most consummate art, and adapted in shape and size to the 

 respective purposes to which they are assigned in the general 

 economy of the colony. 



24. In the superior part of the mound, a dome is constructed, 

 surmounting the habitations of the animals so as effectively to 

 shelter them from the vicissitudes of weather. This may be 

 seen in the vertical section of one of these mounds, shown in 

 fig. 10. The exterior covering of this dome is much stronger than 

 the internal structure beneath it, which constitutes the habita- 

 tion of the colony, and which is divided with surprising regu- 

 larity and contrivance into a vast number of chambers, one of 

 which is appropriated to the sovereigns, and the others distributed 

 among the soldiers, the workers, as nurseries, and as store-rooms. 



The process by which these conical structures are raised is thus 

 described. 



25. The habitation makes its first appearance as one or two 

 small sugar-loaf-shaped mounds about a foot in height. While 

 these are gradually increasing in height and magnitude, others 

 begin to appear near them, which likewise increase in number ; 

 and by the enlargement of their basis, they at length coalesce at 

 the lower parts. The middle mounds are always the highest, and 

 the largest, and by gradually filling up the intermediate space 

 by the enlargement of the bases of the several mounds, a single 

 mound, with various sugar-loaf-shaped masses of less magnitudes 

 groAving out of it, is produced, as shown in fig. 10. 



a a a." Turrets by which their hills are raised and enlarged. 

 2. A section of 1, as it would appear on being cut down through 

 the middle, from the top to the bottom, a foot lower than the 

 surface of the ground. 



A A. An horizontal line from A on the left, and a perpendicular 

 line from A at the bottom will intersect each other at the 

 . royal chamber. 



The darker shades near it are the empty apartments and 

 passages, which, it seems, are left so for the attendants on 

 the king and queen, who, when old, may require near one 

 hundred thousand to wait on them every day. 



The parts which are least shaded and dotted, are the 

 nurseries, surrounded, like the royal chamber, by empty 

 . passages on all sides, for the more easy access to them with 

 104 



