TERMITIDAE 385 



of them is a patch over which the grass has been cut quite 

 short. Mr. Haviland followed these holes by digging for a 

 distance of 20 feet and to a depth of Sg- feet; they remain 

 uniform in size except that near the entrance there may 

 be one or two chambers in which the grass is temporarily 

 stored, but these do not hold more than would be collected 

 in an hour or two. As the burrow descends it is occa- 

 sionally joined by another, and at the point of junction there 

 is usually a considerable widening. Sometimes they run straight 

 for 6 or 7 feet, sometimes they curve abruptly, sometimes they are 

 nearly horizontal, but near the mouth may be almost vertical in 

 direction. These Termites are very local, but the specimens are 

 numerous when found. Mr. Haviland dug for these Insects at 

 two places on the Tugela river, one of them being at Colenso. It 

 is much to be regretted that he was unable to reach the nest. 

 "We figure a soldier selected from specimens sent by Mr. Haviland 

 to the Cambridge University Museum. This Insect is apparently 

 much smaller than Smeathman's T. viarum. Other species of 

 Termitidae have been described^ as forming underground tunnels 

 in Africa, but none of the species have yet been satisfactorily 

 identified. 



It was stated by Smeathman that some species of Termites 

 had chambers in their habitations in which grew a kind of fungus 

 used by the Insects for food ; Mr. Haviland is able to confirm 

 Smeathman in this particular ; he having found fimgus-chambers 

 in the nests of more than one species both in Singapore and 

 South Africa (Fig. 240). 



Habitations. — In nothing do Termites differ more than in 

 the habitations they form. Sometimes, as we have mentioned in 

 the case of Calotermes, there is no real structure formed ; only a 

 few barriers being erected in burrows or natural hollows in wood. 

 In other cases very extensive structures are formed, so that the 

 work of the Termites becomes a conspicuous feature in the land- 

 scape. This is of course only the case in regions that are not 

 much interfered with by man; the great dwellings spoken of 

 by Smeathman and others soon disappear from the neighbourhood 

 of settlements, but in parts of Africa and in Australia large 

 dwellings are still formed by these creatures. In the latter part 

 of the world there exists a very remarkable one, formed by an 

 1 Kolbe, Ent. Machr. xiii. 1887, p. 70. 

 VOL. V 2 C 



