THE TERMITES. 193 



or overseers. Fritz Muller also who lately published some 

 interesting observations on South American Termites, 

 especially on the species named by him the Termes Lespesi, 

 and on the round nests built in trees by some species 

 describes things as happening just in the way related by 

 Smeathman. If 'a piece of the nest is broken off, the 

 workers withdraw from the uncovered passages, while the 

 soldiers appear in large numbers in their place, and run 

 hither and thither, continually touching each other with 

 their feelers. After some time the workers return and 

 eagerly toil at stopping up the openings, partly with earth, 

 partly with their own excrement. Meanwhile the soldiers 

 have withdrawn into the interior, with the exception of a 

 few which appear to overlook and encourage the workers. 

 If a grass-stalk is held in the uncovered passages of a 

 Termites' hill, as the natives do for the sake of catching 

 them, the soldiers will bite it and will let themselves be 

 pulled out thereby. 



If the Termites excel in building nests, they excel yet 

 more in making roads and bridges, for their proceedings here 

 really touch the fabulous. All their roads are subterranean 

 or covered, for they either shun the light or else seek thus 

 to withdraw themselves from the eyes of their numerous 

 enemies. Perhaps also they wish to escape from the 

 burning rays of the sun. " Wherever they go," says Dr. 

 A. Hagen (" On the Habits and Distribution of Termites," 

 1852), " and however far it may be, they first build a viaduct, 

 a tunnel as thick as a quill pen, made out of clay, smooth 

 inside and more or less rough outside. It is wonderful how 

 rapidly their work progresses. Marching in closed ranks, 

 each worker brings to the proper place a little pellet of earth 

 mixed with saliva, secreted by its large glands. Its strong 

 head seems to serve as trowel and hammer. All observers 

 agree that the tunnels seem to grow before their eyes, almost 

 imperceptibly, and Forskal relates that the Termites watched 

 by him in Egypt built two inches of a tunnel in an hour, 

 and three yards during the night. The little crowd toil 

 without ceasing at the enlargement of their work." In order 

 that the labor may be continual, troops of workers apparently 

 relieve each other. When it is practicable they tunnel 

 beneath the earth, but can work quite as well in the open 

 when circumstances demand it. If for instance they come 



