THE PARASITES OF THE TERMITES. 427 



sites which I had observed in many individuals of the same, thirty years ago — 

 three distinct species of nematoid worms, the infusorian JSFjjctotherus, the beautiful 

 entophyte Enterobryus elegans, Arthromitus cristatus, etc. 



' Our White-ant, Termes jlavipes, belongs to the same hospitable company of 

 victuallers as the Wood-Julus, Spirobolus marginatus, and the Unicorn Wood-beetle, 

 Passalus cornutus, and as constantly sustains a multitude of parasites, both animal and 

 vegetable. It is a remarkable fact that the three creatures just named; a neurop- 

 terous insect, a beetle, and a myriapod, use the same food and even at times occupy 

 the same habitation — an old stump, or decaying log. Viewing the immense com- 

 munities they protect and feed, they would in a measure appear to be of sub- 

 ordinate importance, and may be regarded as powerful mills which reduce the 

 ligneous food to a pulpy condition, adapted to the more delicate constitution of 

 their occupants. 



It may be inferred that other species of the same genera above mentioned, with 

 similar habits, will be found equally infested with swarms of parasites. What an 

 idea this gives one of the immensity of life when we reflect upon the probable 

 fact that each and every individual of the already innumerable Termites of the 

 tropics are equally peopled with our own! No wonder, considering the com- 

 munities they have to feed, that they should be so great a pest to man, even to 

 eating his house, furniture, and books ! Here also is a new world to be explored; 

 what a treat it would be to see the nations which inhabit the Termes fatalis 

 and other species of western Africa, and those of Ceylon, India, and of South 

 America ! 



When the intestine of the Termite, Termes fiavipes is withdrawn from the abdo- 

 men and submitted to gentle pressure, under the microscope, the brownish matter 

 in the interior is observed as a swarming mass, in which the largest of the parasites, 

 mainly comprising the latter, are distinguished pushing their way through the crowd. 

 If the intestine is ruptured, myriads of the living occupants escape, reminding one 

 of the turning out of a multitude of persons from the door of a crowded 

 meeting-house. So numerous are the parasites and so varied their form, move- 

 ment, and activity, that their distinctive characters cannot be seen until they 

 become more or less widely diffused and separated. 



By far the greater proportion of the brownish pulpy contents of the small 

 intestine of the Termite consists of parasites, and indeed the first impression might 

 be that these were the actual food, while the small proportion of smaller and 

 indefinite particles were accidental elements swallowed with the animalcules. To 

 be sure these are at first all living and do not exhibit the usual appearance of 



