TERMITES. 201 
each time that one set never fight, and the other never work, 
however great the need may be/ 1 
Similar facts have been observed by Fritz Miiller of 
the South American species. 
The Termites, being like the Ecitons blind, like them 
make all their expeditions under the protection of covered 
ways. These are underground tunnels in all cases where 
circumstances permit, but on arriving at a rock or other 
impenetrable obstruction, they build a tubular passage 
upon the surface. According to Buchner, — - 
They can even carry their viaducts through the air, and that 
in such bold arches that it is difficult to understand how they 
were projected. In order to reach a sack of meal which was 
well protected below, they broke through the roof of the room 
in which it was, and built a straight tube from the breach they 
had made down to the sack. As soon as they tried to carry off 
their booty to a safe place, they became convinced that it was 
impossible to pull it up the straight road. In order to meet 
this difficulty, they adopted the principle of the smooth incline, 
the use of which we have already seen in the interior of their 
nests, and built close to the first tube a second, which wound 
spirally within, like the famous clock tower of Y enice. It was 
now an easy task to carry their booty up this road and so away. 
. . . Either from the desire to remain undiscovered, or from their 
liking for darkness, they have the remarkable habit of destroy- 
ing and gnawing everything from within outwards, and of 
leaving the outside shell standing, so that from the outside ap- 
pearance the dangerous state of the inside is not perceptible. 
If, for instance, they have destroyed a table or other piece of 
household furniture, in which they always manage from the 
ground upwards to hit exactly the places on which the feet of 
the article rest, the table looks perfectly uninjured outside, and 
people are quite astonished when it breaks down under the 
slightest pressure. The whole inside is eaten away, and only 
the thinnest shell is left standing. If fruits are lying on the 
table, they also are eaten out from the exact spot on which they 
rest on the surface of the table. 
In similar fashion things consisting wholly of wood, such as 
wooden ships, trees, &c., are destroyed by them so that they 
finally break in without any one having noticed the mischief. 
Yet it is said that they go so prudently to work in their de- 
Ibid., p. 119. 
