CHAPTER V. 
TERMITES. 
The habits of the Termites, or so-called White Ants, 
have not been so closely studied as they deserve. Our 
chief knowledge concerning them is derived from the 
observations of Jobson, in his 6 History of Gambia ; 5 
Bastian, in 4 The Nations of Eastern Asia; 5 Forsteal, 
Lespes, Konig, Sparman, Hagen, Quatrefages, Fritz 
Muller, and most of all, Smeathman, in 4 Philosophical 
Transactions, 5 vol. lxxi. In Africa these insects raise their 
hills to a height of between ten and twenty feet, and con- 
struct them of earth, stones, pieces of wx>od, &c., glued to- 
gether by a sticky saliva. The hills are in the form of a cone, 
and so strong that it is said the buffaloes are in the habit of 
using them as watch-towers on which to post sentries, and 
that they will even support the weight of an elephant. 
The growth of these gigantic mounds is gradual, increas- 
ing with the increase of the population. From the mound 
in all directions there radiate subterranean tunnels, w T hich 
may be as much as a foot in width, and which serve as 
roadways. Besides these tunnels there are a number of 
other subterranean tubes, which serve the purpose of 
drainage to carry off the floods of water to which the nest 
is exposed during tropical showers. Buchner calculates 
that a pyramid built by man on a scale proportional to his 
size would only equal one of these nests if it attained to 
the height of 3,000 feet. The following is this author's 
description of the internal structure : — - 
These internal arrangements are so various and so com- 
plicated that pages of description might be written there- 
upon. There are myriads of rooms, cells, nurseries, provision 
