604 



THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



soon as the first rains have fallen, the male and female perfect termites, each about the 

 size of two soldiers, or thirty laborers, and furnished with four long, narrow wings, 

 folded on each other, emerge from their retreats in myriads. After a few hours their 

 fragile wings fall off, and on the following morning they are discovered covering the 

 surface of the earth and waters, where their enemies — birds, reptiles, ants — cause so 

 sweeping a havoc that scarce one pair out of many thousands escapes destruction. 

 If by chance the laborers, who are always busy prolonging their galleries, happen to 

 meet with one of these fortunate couples, they immediately, impelled by their instinct, 

 elect them sovereigns of a new community, and, conveying them to a place of safety, 

 begin to build them a small chamber of clay, their palace and their prison — for beyond 

 its walls they never again emerge. Soon after the male dies, but, far from pining 

 and wasting over the loss of her consort, the female increases so wonderfully in bulk 

 that she ultimately weighs as much as 30,000 laborers, and attains a length of three 

 inches, with a proportional width. This increase of size naturally requires a cor- 

 responding enlargement of the cell, which is constantly widened by the indefatigable 

 workers. Having reached her full size, the queen now begins to lay her eggs, and as 

 their extrusion goes on uninterruptedly, night and day, at the rate of fifty or sixty in 

 a minute, for about two years, their total number may probably amount to more than 

 fifty millions. This incessant extrusion of eggs necessarily calls for the attention of a 

 large number of the workers in the royal chamber, to take them as they come forth, 

 and carry them to the nurseries, in which, when hatched, they are provided with food, 

 and carefully attended till they are able to shift for themselves, and become in their 

 turn useful to the community. 



In widening their buildings according to the necessities of their growing population, 

 from the size of small sugar-loaves to that of domes which might be mistaken for the 

 hovels of Indians or negroes, as well as in repairing their damages, the termite workers 

 display an unceasing and wonderful activity ; while the soldiers, or neuters, which are 

 in the proportion of about one to every hundred laborers, and are at once distinguished 

 by the enormous size of their heads, armed with long and sharp jaws, are no less re- 

 markable for their courage and energy. When any one is bold enough to attack 

 their nest and make a breach in its walls, the laborers, who are incapable of fight- 

 ing, immediately retire, upon which a soldier makes his appearance, obviously for 

 the purpose of reconnoitering, and then also withdraws to give the alarm. Two or 

 three others next appear, scrambling as fast as they can one after the other ; to these 

 succeed a large body, who rush forth with as much speed as the breach will permit, 

 their numbers continually increasing during the attack. These little heroes present 

 an astonishing, and at the same time a most amusing spectacle. In their haste they 

 frequently miss their hold, and tumble down the sides of their hill ; they soon, how- 

 ever, recover themselves, and being blind, bite everything they run against. If the 

 attack proceeds, the bustle increases to a tenfold degree, and their fury is raised to its 

 highest pitch. Woe to him whose hands or legs come within their reach, for they will 

 make their fanged jaws meet at the very first stroke, drawing their own weight in 

 blood, and never quitting their hold, even though they are pulled limb from limb. The 

 courage of the bull-dog is as nothing compared to the fierce obstinacy of the termite- 

 soldier. So soon as the injury has ceased, and no further interruption is given, the 

 soldiers retire, and then you will see the laborers hastening in various directions towards 



