THE TERMITES. 189 



description might be written thereupon. There are myriads 

 of rooms, cells, nurseries, provision chambers, guard-rooms, 

 passages, corridors, vaults, bridges, subterranean streets 

 and canals, tunnels, arched ways, steps, smooth inclines, 

 domes, etc., etc., all arranged on a definite, coherent, and 

 well-considered plan. In the middle of the building, 

 sheltered as far as possible from outside dangers, lies the 

 stately royal dwelling, resembling an arched oven, in which 

 the royal pair reside, or rather are imprisoned, for the 

 entrances and outlets are so small that although the workers 

 on service can pass easily in and out, the queen cannot, for 

 during the egg-laying her body swells out to an enormous 

 size, two or three thousand times the size and weight of an 

 ordinary worker. The queen, therefore, never leaves her 

 dwelling and dies therein. Round the palace which is at 

 first small, but is later enlarged in proportion as the queen 

 increases in size until it is at least a yard long and half a 

 yard high lie the nurseries, or cells for the eggs and larvae ; 

 next these the servants' rooms, or cells for the workers 

 which wait on the queen ; then special chambers for the 

 soldiers on guard, and, between these, numerous store-rooms, 

 filled with gums, resins, dried plant-juices, meal, seeds, fruits, 

 worked- up wood, etc. According to Bettziech-Beta, there is 

 always in the midst of the nest a large common room, which 

 is used either for popular assemblies or as the meeting and 

 starting point of the countless passages and chambers of the 

 nest. Others are of the opinion that this space serves for 

 purposes of ventilation. 



While the magazines, or storerooms, are built of clay, the 

 nursery-cells are entirely made of woody material, fastened 

 together with gum. In these are the eggs, and the newly 

 hatched animals or larvae, which are fed by the workers 

 until they are grown large and can help themselves. These 

 nursery-cells lie all round the royal cell, and as near to it 

 as possible, so that the eggs can be easily and quickly carried 

 into them, and their number is increased in proportion as 

 the queen enlarges and lays more eggs. The servants' 

 rooms are also increased as the care of the queen and the 

 distribution of the eggs in the nurseries demands more and 

 more service. Since, as already mentioned, the royal cell 

 itself has to be enlarged, and as for this purpose the sur- 

 rounding rooms have to be continually broken down and 



