222 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



almost wholly on lichens, occasionally adding particles 

 of rotting leaf and something out of the damp black soil. 

 Professor Escherich watched them grazing like so many 

 cows on a meadow of green unicellular Algae growing, as 

 we often see in this country, on damp stones. Occasion- 

 ally the same observer saw a few workers eating up every 

 shred of a deceased comrade. 



Escherich was greatly impressed by the cleanliness of the 

 Black Termites. Like cats, they spend a good deal of 

 time over their toilet, and they lick one another all over, 

 washing every crevice of their many -hinged bodies. Their 

 mutual aid in this direction reminded him often of mon- 

 keys. Care is taken to keep the nests very clean, and the 

 refuse is disposed of in a scrupulously tidy way. The 

 keen-eyed observer goes the length of suggesting that there 

 are special sanitary inspectors. It certainly looks very 

 like it. 



Some of the trees visited by the Black Termites bear the 

 nests of a well-known tailor-ant, Oecophylla, which is three 

 times bigger than our Termite and much more agile. 

 When the Termites arrived there was of course a bitter 

 battle, in which the true ants almost always got the worst 

 of it. Escherich occasionally saw the soldiers lose their 

 presence of mind and fall back on the workers, among 

 whom a temporary panic resulted. The soldiers have big 

 heads, but very small jaws, and the puzzle is how they 

 can fight at all. Their tactics are nothing short of extra- 

 ordinary. When the Oecophyllas draw near, the Termites 

 squirt full in their face drops of a viscous secretion which 

 appears to drive the true ants almost crazy. They drop to 

 the ground and continue for a long time rubbing their faces 

 against stones and debris. The Termite soldiers resume 



