192 THE TERMITES. 



if the assailant witkdraws beyond their reach and inflicts no 

 further injury, they retire within their dwelling in the course 

 of half-an-hour, as though they had come to the conclusion 

 that the enemy who had done the mischief had fled. 

 Scarcely have the soldiers disappeared when crowds of workers 

 appear in the breach, each with a quantity of ready-made 

 mortar in its mouth. As soon as they arrive they stick this 

 mortar round the open place, and direct the whole operation 

 with such swiftness and facility that in spite of their great 

 number they never hinder each other, nor are obliged to 

 stop. During this spectacle of apparent restlessness and 

 confusion the observer is agreeably surprised to see arising 

 a regular wall, filling up the gap. During the time that 

 the workers are thus busied the soldiers remain within the 

 nest, with the exception of a few, which walk about appa- 

 rently idly, never touching the mortar, among the hundreds 

 and thousands of workers. Nevertheless one of them stands 

 on guard close to the wall which is being built. It turns 

 gently each way in turn, lifting its head at intervals of one 

 or two minutes to strike the building with its heavy man- 

 dibles, making the before-mentioned crackling noise. This 

 signal is immediately answered by a loud rustling from the 

 interior of the nest and from all the subterranean passages 

 and holes. There is no doubt that this noise arises from the 

 workers, for as often as the sign is given they work with 

 increased energy and speed. A renewal of the attack 

 instantaneously changes the scene. " At the first stroke," 

 says Smeathman, " the workers run into the many tunnels 

 and passages which run through the building, and this 

 happens so quickly that they seem regularly to vanish. In 

 a few seconds they are all gone, and in their stead appear 

 the soldiers once more, as numerous and as pugna- 

 cious as before. If they find no enemy, they turn back 

 slowly into the interior of the hill, and immediately the 

 mortar-laden workers again appear, and among them a few 

 soldiers, which behave just as on the first occasion. So one 

 can have the pleasure of seeing them work and fight in turn, 

 as often as one chooses ; and it will be found each time that 

 one set never fight, and the other never work, however great 

 the need may be." 



Quatrefages (" Souvenirs d'un Naturaliste," II., p. 405) 

 also never saw the soldiers working, but only acting as leaders 



