THE WAYS OF LIFE 217 



dislike the light, almost without exception, they build 

 earthen tunnels as they go, and the substance of these is 

 sooner or later weathered down, and is carried by the rain 

 to the streams and thence to swell the alluvium of the 

 distant valley. 



Another introductory note is necessary before we pass 

 to consider, as a particular illustration of instinctive 

 behaviour, the ways of the Black Termite. A little 

 must be said of the Termites' social economy. There 

 is a striking division of labour. Besides the males and 

 ' queens ', that is to say, the parental members of the 

 community, there are, in many cases, supplementary 

 ' kings and queens ', kept in reserve and ready to replace 

 the others in the event of emergency. Then there is the 

 great body of ' workers ', who are really permanent children 

 of both sexes, non-reproductive individuals who do not 

 grow up. They differ therefore from the ' workers ' in the 

 bee-hive or the ant-hill, who are all females, though they 

 remain in normal circumstances non-parental. Finally, 

 besides the workers in the Termite community there are 

 often big- jawed soldiers, likewise non-parental, and the 

 intricate division of labour does not end here. But let us 

 turn to the tale of the black Termite of Ceylon, the Black 

 ' White Ant ' as who should say a tale which we owe 

 especially to the patient observations of Professor Escherich 

 of Tharandt and Professor Bugnion of Lausanne. 



The Black Termite, so abundant in Ceylon, is certainly 

 peculiar. It is more like a true ant than a Termite. It 

 resembles the black wood-ant (Lasius fuliginosus) in colour, 

 in many of its ways, in its nest, and even in its smell. 

 The nest is usually in a hollow stem a labyrinth of pas- 

 sages hollowed out in a brown or black wood-paper. When 



