Ants and Termites. 



presented. They passed through the hedge a second 

 time, crossed the road, and then steered their course 

 into a field of ripe wheat, whither, I regret to say, I 

 was unable to follow them." 



Returning to the pillaged nest, Hiiber saw some of 

 its ashy-black inhabitants return to their home carrying 

 the few larvae they had succeeded in saving from the 

 clutches of their victorious foes. Later on he dis- 

 covered the nest in the wheatfield, and found there 

 many of the ashy-black ants that had been carried in 

 their larval and pupal stage, had completed their trans- 

 formations, and were living apparently on perfectly 

 good terms with their captors. 



Greatest of all builders of covered ways are the so- 

 called White Ants the Termites, to give them their 

 proper name which are not related to the true ants 

 at all, but belong to the Neuroptera, an order of insects 

 under which are grouped the dragon-flies, may-flies, 

 lace- wings, and ant-lions. The Termites never will- 

 ingly expose themselves to view, and you may live 

 for many months in a country swarming with them, 

 and be perfectly familiar with the appearance of their 

 great nests, and yet never set eyes upon a single Termite. 

 They are far from pleasant-looking insects ; but their 

 fat, brownish-white, soft bodies are most tempting 

 objects to all sorts of insect-eating creatures, and that 

 is one good reason for their living and working beneath 

 the soil, out of sight of all prying, hungry eyes. Through- 

 out the Tropics the Termites are a great pest, for, living 

 almost exclusively on wood, they will tunnel upwards 

 from the ground into the beams and rafters of a house, 

 giving no external evidence of their presence, working 



"5 



