THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



191 



to work to gnaw the prefectm^e of La Rochelle and the 

 archives, without any person suspecting it; wainscotting, 

 pasteboard, papers, were all annihilated without any ex- 

 ternal sign of this havoc appearing. At present the 



114. Xest of the Tree Termite — Termes arhorum. — From the Museum of Kouen. 



papers of the bureaux are only preserved by keeping them 

 in zinc boxes. 



At Tonnay-Charente the Termites, having gnawed away 

 the props of a dining-room without its being perceived, the 

 flooring collapsed during a party, and the entertainer and 

 his guests sank through. 



In tropical regions certain ants are not less to be 



