SOCIAL INSECTS 125 



which was long ago investigated by Smeathman in West Africa. 

 His description in the Philosophical Transactions for 1781 is 

 astonishingly correct, considering the date at which it was written. 

 Each of the vastly numerous communities constructs and lives in 

 a wonderfully solid dwelling in the form of a mound that may 

 be as much as 20 feet high, and is shaped something like a 

 sugar-loaf. It is chiefly made of earth glued together with 

 saliva, while a good deal of the interior work is carried out with 

 the materials already mentioned for other species. A single 



r 



Fig. 1 100. Section through Mound of Warrior Termite (Termes bellicosus), greatly reduced. For 



description see text. 



royal couple constitute the centre of social life, and there are 

 both worker and soldier castes, the members of the former being 

 much the larger. The name " soldier " is not altogether a happy 

 one, for it appears that the workers fight much better, while the 

 supposed military individuals are rather fond of looking on. 

 Below the termite dwelling (fig. noo) are excavations (c) from 

 which earth for building is procured, while the dwelling itself is 

 divided into four stories (A-D), surrounded by a common external 

 wall (/ on left), which is traversed by transverse and longitudinal 

 galleries (/ on right). The centre of the ground-floor (A) is 

 occupied by the royal chamber (r), which is of considerable size, 

 and enclosed by a curved wall in which there are numerous 



