188 THE TERMITES. 



exceeding strong, so as to withstand injuries from weather, 

 attacks of enemies, and other accidents. 



The outer forms of the Termites' hills vary in different 

 species. While most are conical, others resemble blunted 

 pillars or giant fungi, the latter having domed roofs, over- 

 hanging five centimetres all round, and resting on a tall 

 cylindrical support four or five feet high. In places subject 

 to great and regular inundations, the Termites' nests are 

 found barrel-shaped and built on the gnarled branches of 

 strong trees, with tubular passages running down the trunks 

 to the ground. Some species live in decayed trees, others 

 subterraneously. 



The ground round each Termites' nest is perforated for 

 a considerable distance with tunnels as much as twelve inches 

 wide, so as to keep up circulation and communication among 

 the inhabitants. There is also a well-organised system of 

 surface and subterranean canals and drains, so as to protect 

 the building from the effects of the waterspout-like torrents 

 of rain common in the tropics. % 



According to Bastian (" The Nations of Eastern Asia," 

 II., p. 293) the Termites' towns of Burmah and the neigh- 

 boring countries are as high as a man, and often resemble a 

 regular castle, with pinnacles and towers, while others again 

 are simple massive tumuli or mounds. They seemed to 

 him to be generally built round a decayed tree trunk. 



If we compare the size and the extent of these buildings 

 with the size of the builders, every work of man sinks into 

 insignificance. A pyramid, on the same scale, would have to 

 reach the enormous height of nearly 3,000 feet, and a sub- 

 terranean passage, similar to a Termites' tunnel, would have 

 a diameter of 300 feet. Yet we marvel at the Roman 

 cloacas or the American aqueducts because a man can stand 

 upright or sit on horseback therein. 



The astonishment felt at the capabilities of these creatures 

 which Blanchard (" Rapport sur les Travaux Scientifiques 

 des D^partements en 1868") calls a scourge of the inhabitants 

 of the countries in which they live but one of the wonders 

 of creation for students of nature becomes even greater 

 when we investigate the interior of the hills which serve as 

 their dwellings, about which unfortunately we have only as 

 yet very imperfect information. These internal arrange- 

 ments are so various and so complicated that pages of 



