248 



Termites. - 



-INSECTS.- 



-WlIITE Ant9. 



of thiee kinds — males, females, and neuters ; the males 

 and females are winged, the neuters are apterous. They 

 are oblong, depressed insects in their winged state. The 

 wings easily fall off. 



The nest? of the Termites are very various in structure. 

 Some build nests in trees as large as a sugar-hogshead, 

 and formed of gnawed fibres of wood cemented with 

 gums ; others raise columns over their subterranean 

 galleries, these columns being surmounted by a dome 

 or projecting roof. Such coli.irns and their roofs are 

 formed of clay collected by the larvae and pupre ; they 

 are full of cells, and many are often found together, 

 looking like a group of gigantic toadstools. The nest 

 of the Termes bellicosus consists of two or more conical 

 towers, which soon multiply, and at last they touch each 

 other and become cemented together into a hillock five 

 or six yards high, and nearly as much in diameter. The 

 pyramid of Cheops, one of the loftiest works of man, is 

 four hundred and eighty feet high — that is, about one 

 hundred times the height of a man ; while the pyramid 

 of the termes is at least a thousand times higher than 

 the insect. 



In the " Travels in Central America during 1843 to 

 1847," and Plate 2 of it. Count Francis de Castelnau, 

 known to entomologists by his name Laporte, has given 

 a scene on the Serra da Mantiquerra in Brazil, where 

 the nests of the Termites tower over the mules and 

 passing traveller, like columns or boulders ; giving as 

 distinctive a character to the landscape, as the immense 

 jointed cactus or the palm trees in the same plate. 

 This species seems to be the Termes ciimulans. 



The Termex flavicoUis is a large white ant, common 

 in the districts watered by the upper Amazon. Mr. 

 Wallace describes it as inhabiting holes in the earth 

 about the roots of rotten trees. It is much in request 

 with the great ant-eater, ^lyrmecopharja jnbala^a, 

 great gourmand of ants, as his name implies. The 

 Indians also highly esteem this species as food. Mr. 

 Wallace adds, that the insects are also eaten alive or 

 roasted ; but it is not the abdomen in this case which is 

 used, but the enormous head and thorax, which contain 

 a considerable mass of muscular and other matter. To 

 the European these insects are not agreeable, on account 

 of a bitter taste which they generally have ; but this 

 taste seems to constitute part of the relish to the Indian 

 when eating them. 



Some of the Brazilian White ants form conical hillocks, 

 but not with the broad base and tapering point of the 

 African species. The nests of the Termites are occa- 

 sionally overturned by the slaves, who scoop out the 

 hollow wider, and use the structure as an oven in which 

 to parch Indian corn. 



In cities they are sometimes very destructive — hence 

 every Brazilian lady keeps her fine robes in tin boxes ; 

 and each gentleman who pretends to a library must 

 often look at it to see if the Ciqnm, or White ant, has 

 not become a most penetrating reader of his volumes. 



Captain Burton, who lately travelled among the lake 

 regions of Central Equatorial Africa, refers to the ant 

 hills of Somaliland forming an important feature in the 

 landscape. He alludes to one species, called by the 

 natives chhungu mchum, as abounding in the sweet 

 red clay soils and in cool wet places, where it acts as 



scavenger; he adds, '' Indeed, without it the country 

 would be rendered impassable."* He found that it 

 avoids heat, sand, and stone. In some districts this 

 species is most destructive. A mud bench will be 

 pierced and drilled by an army of these insects in a 

 single night; and heaps of reeds, placed under bedding, 

 are in a few hours converted into a mass of mud. 

 Captain Burton says that the natives take the largest 

 and fattest kinds of White ants, and after boiling them 

 in water with a little salt, the mess is eaten as a relish 

 with their insipid ugali or porridge. He observes that 

 in these districts the White ants seem to have within 

 themselves a cistern of living water : in th« ri: iest places 

 they find no difficulty in making a clay paste for their 

 galleries. Writers have explained this by a conjecture, 

 that their Creator has given them vital force to com- 

 bine the atmospheric oxygen with the hydrogen of their 

 food. Our traveller noticed these insects rising on 

 their wings from the ground in masses, which resembled 

 thin curls of smoke. It was generally at eventide. 

 After flying a few yards the wings drop ofi'. 



In the West Indies Mr. Gosse has seen one of the 

 parrots, the yelbw-bellied Parroquet, build its nest in 

 the deserted nest of a White ant. Snakes and lizards 

 take refuge in them, and deposit their eggs there. The 

 substance of the nest forms an excellent fuel, as it burns 

 readily, with a flame and glowing brightness little 

 inferior to coal. Mr. Gosse adds, " As no ammoniacal 

 smell proceeds from it, and as it consumes into a clear 

 white ash, I conjecture that the substance is of vege- 

 table origin. It is sought after in those districts and 

 seasons in which the mosquitoes make a more than 

 endurable pest, in order to be burned in a chafing-dish ; 

 as it gives out a good deal of smoke, which is the only 

 weapon that those formidable, though minute warriors 

 fear. The smoke clears the house of the insect-hosts 

 in a few seconds, and is much preferable to that of wood, 

 because far less painful to the eyes."f 



Swarms of the winged males and females enter the 

 houses in Jamaica in the spring, much to the annoyance 

 of the inmates. They flock to the lights, and cast their 

 wings voluntarily. 



Mr. Arthur Adams | noticed in Borneo a species of 

 White ant which builds a large hemispherical nest on tho 

 trunk of trees, formed of finely-comminuted leaves and 

 mud. The interior consists of great numbers of cancdli, 

 separated by walls and passages, which are tlironged with 

 the small soft-bodied inhabitants. "On being disturbed the 

 big-headed soldiers make absurd and impotent attempts 

 to defend their queen and helpless workers, who imme- 

 diately retire within the recesses of tL^ city." When 

 viewed from a little distance, this nest looks like a great 

 vegetable excrescence, or wen, growing from the bole 

 of the tree. 



Lieutenant-colonel James Campbell,§ formerly of 

 the 48th and 50th regiments, and who for several 3'ears 

 held a high command in Ceylon, published an interest- 

 ing work on Ceylon. He refers to the fearful ravages 



' See Proceedings of the Geographical Society, p. 117; 18G0 

 t Naturalist's Sojourn in .Jamaica. 

 X Voyage of Samarang, vol, ii., p. 410. 

 % Excursions, Adventures, and Field Sports in Ceylon, vol. 

 ii., p. 365. 



