THE TERMITES 477 



The fact that the white ants live and work entirely under cover might 

 naturally lead one to infer that they were much less abundant than the 

 true ants. But nowhere have I found the ground as thickly covered with 

 the termites' nests as with those of the true ants, a fact probably due to 

 some extent to the methods by which the two kinds of insects procure 

 their food supplies. 



I have never been able to estimate the number of individuals in the 

 old colonies, nor have I found such an estimate made by any one else. In 

 the matter of numbers we are obliged to depend on general impressions 

 gained from the abundance of the above-ground structures of the separate 

 colonies and from certain of their habits. For example, it is stated that 

 the queen of an allied species whose habits have been studied has "an egg- 

 laying rate of 60 per minute, or something like 80,000 per day."^^ 



Prince Maximilien, who traveled through the region between Rio and 

 Bahia, says of their abundance : "One can get some idea of their pro- 

 digious numbers when he remembers the vast extent of the interior of 

 Brazil, and of the number of the little animals that occupy these nests, 

 when he reflects that one can not go 20 paces without meeting their 

 mounds."*^ 



This statement must be taken with certain allowances, for, as pointed 

 out elsewhere, the nests are not everywhere equally abundant. 



ANIMALf^ FEEDING ON TERMITES 



As the Avhite ants have no means of defense against their natural ene- 

 mies, they are easily destroyed and are preyed on by many other in- 

 sectivorous animals. Indeed, one of the impressive evidences of the 

 great numbers of the white ants in South America is the existence there 

 of certain large vertebrate burrowing animals that are said to feed almost 

 exclusively upon the white ants.*^ 



The great ant-eater, known in Brazil as the tamandud handeira, is 

 said to live entirely on ants. Brazilians acquainted with the habits of 

 the tammidud tell me, however, that the ant-eater does not eat the saubas 

 or other biting or stinging ants, but that it lives chiefly and almost ex- 

 clusively on the cupim, or so-called white ant. To give an idea of the 

 size of the animal, I quote the following measurements of an ant-eater 

 as given by Wells: Head, 16 inches; back, 4 feet; tail, 4 feet; total 

 length, 9 feet 4 inches. He says it has no teeth.*^ 



38 C. L. Marlatt : Circular 50, p. 8, 2d ser., Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture. Washington, 1908. 



*o Maximilien, Prince de Wied-Neuwied : Voyage au Bresil, t. iii, p. 129. Paris, 1822. 



*i Holes often found in the mounds of the true ants show that some of these large ant- 

 eating animals feed on the true ants also. 



" J. W. Wells : Three thousand miles through Brazil, vol. ii, p. 141. London, 1886. 



