TERMITIDAE 387 



together so as to look like stone or brick, and the buildings appear 

 to be almost as strong as if they were actually constructed with 

 these materials. In many cases 

 the substance used is comminuted 

 wood that has passed one or 

 more times through the alimen- 

 tary canal of the Insects, and 

 may therefore be called excrement. 

 Whether the stone-like material 

 is made from earth that has 

 passed through the alimentary 

 canal or from grains gathered ^^"- 2*°-- ^^ST"' "H™*™."*' 



° ° Terrms augustatus, S. Airica, showing 



for the purpose has not been fungus chambers and orifices of corn- 



well ascertained. In any case i"™ic^tio"- 

 the material is cemented together by means of the secretions of 

 glands. Dudley and Beamnont have described the process of 

 construction, in a species observed by them, saying that earth 

 is brought and placed in position by the mandibles, and cemented 

 by liquid from the abdomen.^ Von Jhering says ^ that some 

 species form the exterior walls of their dwellings of stone-like 

 material, but make use of woody matter for the construction 

 of the interior. Smeathman has described the nest of Termes 

 iellicosus. The whole of the very strong external wall consists 

 of clay-like material, cemented by the secretions of the Termites 

 to a very firm consistence. The royal cell is built of the same 

 material as the framework of the nest ; whilst the nurseries 

 in which the young are chiefly found are built of woody 

 material, and are always covered with a kind of mould — the 

 mycelium of a fungus — and plentifully sprinkled with small 

 white bodies, which, under the microscope, are found to be filled 

 with a number of oblong, spore-like cells. 



These nurseries rest on the clay-like framework of the nest, 

 but are not attached thereto ; they in no way support it, or one 

 another, indeed they have the appearance of being constantly 

 added to on their upper margins and constantly eaten away on 

 their under parts. Fig. 240 represents the appearance of the 

 upper boundary of a nursery taken from a nest of Termes angus- 

 tatus. The small white bodies, mentioned above, have dis- 

 appeared : the mycelium of the fungus, though not shown in the 

 ' Trans. N. York Ac. viii. 1889, p. 91. ^ Congr. intarnat. Zool. ii. 1892, p. 249. 



