42 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 
all disappearing in a few seconds, and out march the mi- 
litary as numerous and vindictive as before.x— When all 
is once more quiet, the busy labourers re-appear, and 
resume their work, and the soldiers vanish. Repeat 
the experiment a hundred times, and the same will al- 
ways be the result ;—you will never find, be the peril or 
emergency ever so great, that one order attempts to 
fight, or the other to work. 
You have seen how solicitous the Termites are to 
move and work under cover and concealed from obser- 
vation; this, however, is not always the case;—there 
is a species larger than J. bellicosus, whose proceed- 
ings I have been principally describing, which Mr. 
Smeathman calls the marching Termes (Termes viarum). 
He was once passing through a thick forest, when on a 
sudden a loud hiss, like that of serpents, struck him with 
alarm. ‘The next step produced a repetition of the 
sound, which he then reccgnised to be that of white 
ants; yet he was surprised at seeing none of their hills 
or covered ways. Following the noise, to his great 
astonishment and delight he saw an army of these crea- 
tures emerging from a hole in the ground; their number 
was prodigious, and they marched with the utmost cele- 
rity. When they had proceeded about a yard they 
divided into two columns, chiefly composed of labourers, 
about fifteen abreast, following each other in close order, 
and going straight forward. Here and there was seen a 
soldier, carrying his vast head with apparent difficulty, 
and looking like an ox in a flock of sheep, whe marched 
on in the same manner. At the distance of a foot or 
two from the columns many other soldiers were to be 
seen, standing still or pacing about as if cAonvie aE 
