336 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



ant community. In both we find tlie curious entertaining 

 of other insects as guests and pets ; in both we find the 

 growing of fungi for food. Some Termites make a sponge- 

 like maze of chewed wood and a mould is grown on the 

 walls of the tunnels which is greatly enjoyed by the culti- 

 vators. It probably supplements their other food, supply- 

 ing some constituent otherwise lacking or scarce. 



Signalling among White Ants. — It has been known 

 for a long time that the soldiers of some kinds of 

 Termites are able to give an alarm-signal when they are 

 frightened or distracted. Thus, as far back as 1779 Konig 

 described Hodotermes convulsionarius striking dry leaves 

 with its mandibles. Smeathman, Haviland and Sjostedt 

 have also reported the occurrence of indubitable signaUiag. 

 Smeathman watched the building of the wall of a termitary, 

 and noticed that soldiers standing on guard struck the 

 building with their mandibles at intervals of one or two 

 minutes and made a sort of crackling noise. This sign 

 seemed to encourage the workers to increased industry, 

 and to reassure them in some sort of way. When an 

 attack was made on the ant-hill the workers disappeared 

 into the internal passages and the soldiers made a sortie. 

 After things were settled up again, the workers returned 

 to their labours, and the sentinels to their signalling. 

 Prof. Escherich relates that when he was having a Ceylon 

 termitary of Termes hellicosus opened with a pickaxe, 

 he heard a protesting noise from within — ^hke that made 

 by a rattlesnake. The noise was also heard by the native 

 who wielded the instrument. He heard it and fled, leaving 

 Escherich to continue the operations. 



When Prof. Bugnion and three others were recently 

 exploring in Ceylon, moving cautiously amongst dense 



