326 K AMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



to them.* Their entire body is of such extreme de- 

 licacy, that they are crushed by the slightest touch ; 

 but their head is provided with serrated mandibles, 

 of so strong and horny a substance as to enable them 

 to attack the hardest bodies, excepting only metals 

 and stones. The soldiers are about double their 

 length, and weigh as much as fifteen of the workers. 

 This excessive weight is due to their enormous horny 

 head, which is much larger than the body, and is 

 armed with sharp pincers, true weapons of offence 

 which cannot serve for purposes of ordinary labour. 

 Finally the perfect insect is sometimes as much as 

 six or seven-tenths of an inch in length, it weighs 

 as much as thirty workers, and the wings which it 

 possesses only for a few hours, are two inches arid a 

 half from tip to tip. We shall presently see what 

 singular modifications appear to have been impressed 

 upon the females by the very nature of the part 

 which they are destined to play. 



All the species of the Termites are miners, 

 and most of them, moreover, are architects. Some 

 among them build their nest on trees around a large 

 branch, which these destructive insects well know 

 how to respect when it suits their purpose. These 

 nests are often as large as a sugar barrel, and although 

 they present a broad purchase to the storms of the 

 tropics, and are composed entirely of small parcels of 

 wood, glued together by means of the gums of the 

 district, and the juices yielded by the workers them- 

 selves, they are never torn away. Very few species 

 live in the open air, for the greater number construct 



* The Creoles and most travellers still designate the Termites by 

 the name of white ants, on account of their shape and colour. 



