INSECTS 



179 



the top like the crater of a miniature volcano. Upon closer examination it will 

 be discovered that the holes have just the size and shape of the inside of his boots, 

 which were incautiously left on the brick-floor the night before. The}' have given 

 form and proportion to an ant-heap, and nothing is left except the nails, eyelets and, 

 maybe, part of the heels. White-ants, like certain kinds of true ants, cultivate 

 " fungus-gardens." When the colony is in full vigour such funguses are not, how- 

 ever, permitted to grow beyond the " mycelium stage," when they form spongy 

 white masses in the ground, closely resembling so-called mushroom spawn. In 

 Ceylon the white-ant fungus is found solely in the nests of white-ants, and is un- 

 known in any other situation. When white-ant nests are more or less completely 

 deserted, the fungus has a chance of attaining its full development ; and in such 

 spots may occasionally be found mushroom-like funguses, which are regarded as 

 delicacies by the natives, and are equally acceptable to the palates of Europeans, 

 their flavour being described as equal, if not superior, to that of the ordinary 

 mushroom. It forms a large flat, white, or occasionally brownish head, with 

 white gills, supported on a long, stout stem, which may be as much as 1 foot in height. 

 Where such a fungus grows, there may be no external sign of a termite's nest, but 

 if its root be traced, it will be found to spring from one of the spongy " spawn " 

 masses peculiar to white-ant colonies. The rarity with which such colonies are 

 evacuated accounts for the scarcity of the mushroom. 



The following account of the social economy of white ants is abbreviated 

 from one given in the Agricultural Journal of India of 1912. 



Numerically the most important individuals in a termite community are the 

 " workers." Apart from reproduction and defence, these carry out practically all 

 the duties required of members of a social body; taking charge of the young, 

 excavating, building up and repairing the nest, foraging for food outside of the 

 nest, and attending to the cultivation of the fungus-gardens. There are often two 

 forms, a larger and a smaller, the functions of which do not appear to be greatly 

 different, though as a rule the larger forms seem to forage, whilst the smaller 

 individuals attend to the internal economy of the nest. The jaws in the workers 

 are well adapted for cutting through fibrous substances such as wood, and it is 

 the workers alone which damage crops and woodwork. Amongst bees and wasps 

 each worker is armed with a powerful sting, used as a rule solely for defensive 

 purposes. In the more highly developed species of white ants the defence of 

 the nest is, however, provided for by a special caste called " soldiers," which are 

 entirely distinct from the workers structurally, and whose business it is to keep 

 order among the latter and to repel assaults upon the nest or foraging-parties. 

 The soldiers have no sting, but are armed with strong biting jaws, and eject a- 

 sticky fluid from their heads. The duty of the soldiers appears to be to act 

 solely as defenders of the nest, and in doing this they seem to realise the 

 soundness of the maxim that the best defence is a vigorous offence. In cases, 

 when a nest is opened the workers retreat out of sight, while at the same time 

 the soldiers swarm out to repel the disturbers of the peace. Blind as they are,, 

 they seem mad with rage and run about with jaws open and ready to seize the 

 foe. On meeting the intruder it is seized firmly in the jaws, sometimes with such 

 determination that the soldier will allow itself to be torn in two rather than relax 



