Ants and Termites. 



topmost branches, eighty or ninety feet from the ground. 

 These immense nests are built of particles of wood 

 mixed with saliva from the Termite's mouth, and pos- 

 sibly with gummy excretions of the tree, worked up 

 into a sort of wood-pulp cement, which can be fashioned 

 into the walls and chambers of the nest. So stoutly are 

 they constructed, and so firmly attached to the trees, 

 that it is impossible to remove them without sawing 

 off the branches to which they are fastened. These 

 arboreal Termites are just as shy of exposing them- 

 selves as are their ground-dwelling relations, and, like 

 them, construct long covered ways wherever they go. 

 In the peculiarities of their social life, and in their 

 wonderful architectural powers, the Termites are most 

 remarkable and deeply interesting insects. 



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