WHITE ANTS. 



301 



bitants to travel over with more safety, or else, which 

 is not improbable, worn by frequent treading. 



Turret-Building White Ants. 



Apparently more than one species, smaller than 

 the preceding, such as the Termes mordax and T. 

 atrox of Smeathman, construct nests of a very dif- 

 ferent form, the figures of which resemble a pillar, 

 with a large mushroom for a capital. These turrets 

 are composed of well-tempered black earth, and 

 stand nearly three feet high. The conical mush- 

 room-shaped roof is composed of the same material, 

 and the brims hang over the column, being three of 

 four inches wider than its perpendicular sides. Most 

 of them, says Smeathman, resemble in shape the 

 body of a round windmill, but some of the roofs 

 have little elevation in the middle. When one of 

 these turrets is completed, the insects do not after- 

 wards enlarge or alter it ; but if it be found too small 



Turret A csi3 of T, ha c Ants, (^ne A'est is represented, cut through, with 

 ti;e u/i er p;i: t lying on ihe grouji<i. 

 VOL. lY. ■■ZQ 



