1876.) The Probable Danger from White Ants. 403 
The whole is built up by the blind workers in the dark, for it 
isa peculiarity of the white ants that they shun the daylight. 
No matter how far they intend to go, they build a pipe of clay 
of about a quill’s diameter, forming a viaduct, the inside of 
which is quite smooth, whilst the outside is more or less rough. 
It is wonderful how quickly the work progresses. In a file each 
_ worker carries to the right place a small particle of loam, mixed 
with its saliva. Without interruption the little troop is busily 
engaged, and such pipes have been observed to progress two 
inches in a single hour, and six feet during one night. 
When the work is damaged, the workers retire, frightened, 
and in the breach appear the thick-headed soldiers ; first one, 
then more, in such a hurry that often the foremost are thrown 
down by the eagerly pressing crowds. Opening their jaws wide, 
they move their heads threateningly to reach the enemy, and at 
the same time make a peculiar hissing sound. Furiously they 
beat at everything in their way, and not infrequently put to 
flight barefooted intruders, The soldiers do not help at the - 
work ; protection is their only duty. They are blind, like the 
workers, 
_ There are some very curious facts observed concerning the 
instinct of these little animals. As the whole nest would die 
with the premature death of the queen, sometimes two equally 
well-developed queens are found in the same cell, but the rather 
impolite workers have built between them a partition, begin- 
ning at the ceiling but not quite reaching the floor. Therefore 
only conversation is possible ; perhaps they think that two queens 
would. not live peaceably so near together. Every society pro- 
Vides carefully for a substitute in case of the queen’s death, and 
m a small cell, shaped like that of the queen, two or three indi- 
viduals are found, prepared, if wanted, to take her place. 
All the species of the white ants which build hills belong to 
the tropics. But besides these, there exist numerous species 
Which build curious nests in the tops of trees, or beneath the sur- 
ce of the earth, or which live in decayed trees and in every 
‘Kind of decayed wood. Two of the-latter kind, very similar to 
ach other, live in Europe and North America; and about these 
4 Particular, and their dangerous habits, I propose to make some 
ations, 
nate ettoPean species ( Termes lucifugus) has been observed by 
g 8s for nearly a century. The little dark-brown inseet, 
living under stones or in old decayed trees, had until recently never 
