THE COASTS OF SAINTOXGE. 327 



above their subterranean galleries, edifices that en- 

 close their storehouses and nurseries. The Termes 

 atrox and the Termes mordax thus erect true columns 

 surmounted by 'a roof or dome, which projects on all 

 sides. These columns are about three-quarters of 

 a yard high, and about a quarter of a yard in 

 width. They are entirely constructed of a sort of 

 clay, which acquires an extraordinary degree of hard- 

 ness after it has been worked by the Termites. It ia 

 easier to tear up one of these columns from its foun- 

 dation than to break it through the middle. The 

 interior is hollow, or rather it is entirely composed 

 of irregularly- shaped cells, which serve as lodgings. 

 AVhen the number of the inhabitants augments 

 a new column rises by the side of the former one, 

 and so on, until the nest of one of the two species 

 which I have named, bears no inconsiderable resem- 

 blance to a group of monstrous toadstools. 



If, however, we would see the Termites display 

 all the industry that the Creator has bestowed upon 

 them, we must follow the example of Smeathman, 

 and visit and demolish piece by piece a nest of the 

 Termes bellicosus. When a colony of the latter 

 establishes itself in the midst of a plain, one or two 

 conical towers are first observed to protrude above 

 the surface of the ground, and, growing rapidly, they 

 soon multiply and attain a height of five feet. The 

 extent of the soil occupied by these temporary edi- 

 fices corresponds with that of their subterranean 

 works. The diameter of these towers gradually in- 

 creases, their base extends, and in a short time they 

 touch one another and become cemented together. 



V 4 



