TERMITES (WHITE ANTS). 107 
bonded stores at Wyndham, Western Australia, the metal capsules of wine and beer 
bottles have been perforated by White Ant agency, the corks destroyed and the 
liquid wasted. Where the covered passages of the Termites passed over the 
surfaces of the bottles it was observed by Mr. Hare that the surface was distinctly 
eroded as though it had been brought in contact with a revolving emery-wheel. 
This phenomenon of the erosion of glass by the excretions of the Termites goes 
far towards the explanation of the remarkably indurated character of the termitaria 
of the majority of the mound-constructing species. As recorded further on, the 
food chambers of these termitaria are almost invariably found filled with short 
lengths of dried grasses, which apparently constitutes the main diet of these 
species. Those internal juices of the Termites, which on excretion erode a glass 
surface, are, it may be anticipated, capable of dissolving the silica contained so 
abundantly in the substance of the grass stalks eaten, and are, in a soluble state, 
ejected and mingled, as a temper, with the earthy material that constitutes the bulk 
of the hillocks. 
The corrosive action of the fluid secretions of the Termites, as observed with 
reference to glass, is manifested in a yet more marked degree when the softer 
metals, such ‘as tin and lead, are attacked. The circumstance of the metal capsules 
of wine bottles being perforated by these insects, apparently with the direct object 
of reaching and devouring the woody substance of the corks, has been already 
referred to. Instances fell within the author’s observation at Port Darwin, in 
the Northern Territory of South Australia, in which lead sheeting, of considerable 
thickness, had been perforated by White Ants in order to enable them to gain 
access to a supply of coveted wood that lay beyond. To guard against White 
Ant depredations, the houses throughout tropical Australia, and in Queensland, even 
so far south as Brisbane, are to a large extent isolated on hard-wood or brick 
and cement pillars, having zinc or other metal cappings to prevent the Termites’ 
ingress. Where these pillars are of wood a constant watch has to be kept to check 
the earliest indications of the insects’ advent. 
Should these precautions be neglected and the house perhaps be left tenantless 
for a few months’ interval, the owner may on his return make a most unwelcome 
discovery. A clay-covered gallery half an inch or so in width up one of the 
supporting pillars is the only outward and visible sign of the enemy’s presence. 
Appearances inside may at first sight be even less conspicuously premonitory of the 
ruin that has been accomplished. Stepping into the first room, however, the foot 
