Termites or White Ants 



and wingless individuals and of several castes. To each 

 caste a special duty is assigned. 



Let us examine one of the giant termite mounds of 

 tropical Africa, Australia, Asia or America and learn for 

 ourselves the marvellous work which is carried on therein, 

 hidden from the outside world. It is in the Tropics that 

 these destructive insects attain their greatest development, 

 both in individual dimensions and in the extent of their 

 colonies. Some of the African termite mounds, exceeding 

 twenty feet in height and measuring over a hundred feet 

 in circumference, house literally millions of inmates. 

 They are composed solely of clay and the saliva of the 

 insects, and by the aid of the tropical sun they become 

 baked as hard as bricks. In outline they are conical and 

 usually consist of one large central cone surrounded by a 

 number of smaller cones. 



Although termites are stealthy workers, avoiding the 

 light as a cat shuns water, there is one season of the year 

 when they blacken the air with their presence. This is 

 the time of the nuptial flight, and, as it marks the 

 beginning of a new community, it forms a fitting starting- 

 point for our study of a termite colony. When the 

 nuptial flight takes place, thousands upon thousands of 

 winged termites issue from the dark recesses of their home 

 and fly into the air. Their appearance is the signal foi- 

 all the insect-eating creatures of the neighbourhood to 

 assemble, for they know by experience that a time of 

 plenty is at hand. Birds, dragon-flies, robber-flies and the 

 like forgather to feast upon the luckless termites. As a 

 consequence few individuals survive their brief flight, 

 taken with the object of pairing, away from their homes. 

 Such, however, is the confusion caused by the advent of 

 voracious enemies that as often as not the insects making 

 their bridal flight are defeated of their object. In any 

 event the flight is never repeated, for although the winged 

 male and female termites which embark on this great 

 adventure are good flyers, when they first come to light 



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