414 
INSECTS. 
[Chap. XII. 
times its usual and proportionate bulk, and presenting 
the appearance of a mass of shapeless pulp. From this 
great progenitrix proceed the myriads that people the 
subterranean hive, consisting, like the communities of 
the genuine ants, of labourers and soldiers, which are 
destined never to acquire a fuller development than 
that of larvaB, and the perfect insects which in due time 
become invested with wings and take their departing 
flight from the cave. But their new equipment seems 
only destined to facilitate their dispersion from the 
parent nest, which takes place at dusk ; and almost as 
quickly as they leave it they divest themselves of their 
ineffectual wings, waving them impatiently and twisting 
them in every direction till they become detached and 
drop off, and the swarm, within a few hours of their 
emancipation, become a prey to the night-jars and bats, 
which are instantly attracted to them as they issue in a 
cloud from the ground. I am not prepared to say that 
the other insectivorous birds would not gladly make 
a meal of the termites, but, seeing that in Ceylon their 
numbers are chiefly kept in check by the crepuscular 
birds, it is observable, at least as a coincidence, that 
the dispersion of the swarm generally takes place at 
twilight. Those that escape the caprimulgi fall a 
prey to the crows, on the morning succeeding their 
flight. 
The strange peculiarity of the omnivorous ravages of 
the white ants is that they shrink from the light ; in all 
their expeditions for providing food they construct a 
covered pathway of moistened clay, and their galleries 
above ground extend to an incredible distance from the 
central nest. No timber, except ebony and ironwood, 
which are too hard, and those which are strongly im- 
