TERMITE STRUCTURES 



483 



In the valley of Kio Sapao, in northwest Bahia, Wells notes great 

 numbers of white ants^ nests from 4 to 6 feet high.°^ 



At and about Asuncion, in Paraguay, I found the nests very abundant 

 on the clayey soils, and many of them as much as 3 meters high. 



The outer portion of the nest being thick, hard, and compact, and the 

 inside being friable and easily removed, it is a custom in the interior of 

 Brazil and Paraguay to scoop out the inside of white ants' nests and to 

 use them for ovens. The door is cut near the base of the cone, and the 

 inside parts removed through it. 



The accompanying illustrations will probably give a better idea of the 

 sizes and shapes of the nests than verbal descriptions. 



Figure 7. White Ants' Nest, huilt of Earth, in the State of Minas Geraes 



From a photograph by R. Crandall, July, 1909 



I add short extracts concerning these nests taken from other writers. 

 The following is translated from Auguste de Saint-Hilaire :^^ 



"In the vicinity of Parahyba we saw along the side of the road the nests of 

 the termites, or white ants; further on we saw nothing of them, but near 

 Pinho Velho, and especially near the Mantiqueira, we found large numbers of 

 them. . . . The nests of the species common to the vicinity of Mantiqueira 

 are made of a much masticated clayey earth. They are nearly cylindrical, 



50 J. W. WeUs : He says that in that part of Brazil the mounds are often occupied by 

 bees. Three thousand miles through Brazil, vol. ii, p. 127. London, 1886. 



51 Voyage dans les provinces de Rio de Janeiro et de Minas Geraes, vol. i, p. 108. 

 Paris, 1830. 



