DWELLINGS. 209 



gone an evolution parallel to his which has placed 

 them at the head of Insects in the same way as he 

 has become superior to ^11 other Mammals. The 

 brain in Ants as in Man has undergone a dispro- 

 portionate development. Like Man, they possess a 

 language which enables them to combine their efforts, 

 and there is no human industry in which these insects 

 have not arrived at a high degree of perfection. If in 

 certain parts of the earth human societies are superior 

 to those of Ants, in many others the civilisation of 

 Ants is notably superior. No village of Kaffirs 

 can be compared to a palace of the Termites. The 

 classifications separate these insects (sometimes called 

 "White Ants") from the Ants, since the latter are 

 Hymenoptera, while the former are ranked among the 

 Neuroptera, but their constructions are almost alike, 

 and may be described together. These small animals, 

 relatively to their size, build on a colossal scale com- 

 pared to Man ; even our most exceptional monuments 

 cannot be placed beside their ordinary buildings. 

 (Fig. 37.) The domes of triturated and plastered clay 

 which cover their nests may rise to a height of five 

 metres ; that is to say, to dimensions equal to one 

 thousand times the length of the worker. The Eiffel 

 Tower, the most elevated monument of which human 

 industry can boast, is only one hundred and eighty- 

 seven times the average height of the worker. It is 

 three hundred metres high, but to equal the Termites' 

 audacity, it would have to attain a height of 1,600 

 metres. 



The different species of Termite are not equally 

 industrious. The T. hellicosus seems to have carried 

 the art of construction to the highest point. All the 

 individuals of the species are not alike ; there exists 



14 



