248 Tesrmites. INSECTS. White Ants. 
of three kinds — males, females, and neuters ; the males 
and females are winged, the neuters are apterous. They 
are oblong, depressed insects in their winged state. The 
wings easily fall off. 
The nests of the Termites are very various in structure. 
Some build nests in trees as large as a sugar-hogshead, 
and formed of gnawed fibres of wood cemented with 
gums ; others raise columns over their subterranean 
galleries, these columns being surmounted by a dome 
or projecting roof. Such columns and their roofs are 
formed of clay collected by the larvae and pupoe ; they 
are full of cells, and many are often found together, 
looking like a group of gigantic toadstools. The nest 
of the Termes bellicosus consists of two or more conical 
towers, which soon multiply, and at last they touch each 
other and become cemented together into a hillock five 
or six yards high, and nearly as much in diameter. The 
pyramid of Cheops, one of the loftiest works of man, is 
four hundred and eightj' feet high — that is, about one 
hundred times the height of a man ; while the pyramid 
of the termes is at least a thousand times higher than 
the insect. 
In the “ Travels in Central America during 1843 to 
1847,” and Plate 2 of it. Count Francis de Castelnau, 
known to entomologists by his name Laporte, has given 
a scene on the Serra da Mantiquerra in Brazil, where 
the nests of the Termites tower over the mules and 
passing traveller, like columns or boulders; giving as 
distinctive a character to the landscape, as the immense 
jointed cactus or the palm trees in the same plate. 
This species seems to be the Termes cumulans. 
The Tei'mes flavicollis is a large white ant, common 
in the districts watered by the upper Amazon. Mr, 
Wallace describes it as inhabiting holes in the earth 
about the roots of rotten trees. It is much in request 
with the great ant-eater, Myrmecophaga jiibala — a 
great gourmand of ants, as his name implies. The 
Indians also highly esteem this species as food. Mr. 
Wallace adds, that the insects are also eaten alive or 
roasted ; but it is not the abdomen in this case which is 
used, but the enormous head and thorax, which contain 
a considerable mass of muscular and other matter. To 
the European these insects are not agreeable, on account 
of a bitter taste wdiich thej' generally have ; but this 
taste seems to constitute part of the relish to the Indian 
when eating them. 
Some of the Brazilian White ants form conical hillocks, 
but not with the broad base and tapering point of the 
African species. The nests of the Termites are occa- 
sionally overturned by the slaves, who scoop out the 
hollow wider, and use the structure as an oven in which 
to parch Indian corn. 
In cities the}' are sometimes very destructive — hence 
every Brazilian lady keeps her fine robes in tin boxes ; 
and each gentleman who pretends to a library must 
often look at it to see if the Cupim, or White ant, has 
not become a most penetrating reader of his volumes. 
Captain Burton, who lately travelled among the lake 
regions of Central Equatorial Africa, refers to the ant 
hills of Somaliland forming an important feature in the 
landscape. He alludes to one species, called by the 
natives chhwngu mchwa, as abounding in the sweet 
red clay soils and in cool wet places, where it acts as 
scavenger; he adds, “ Indeed, without it the country 
would be rendered impassable.”* He found that it 
avoids heat, sand, and stone. In some districts this 
species is most destructive. A mud bench will be 
pierced and drilled by an army of these insects in a 
single night ; and heaps of reeds, placed under bedding, 
are in a few hours converted into a mass of mud. 
Captain Burton says that the natives take the largest 
and fattest kinds of White ants, and after boiling them 
in water with a little salt, the mess is eaten as a relish 
with their insipid ugali or porridge. He observes that 
in these districts the White ants seem to have within 
themselves a cistern of living water : in the driest places 
they find no difficulty in making a clay paste for their 
galleries. Writers have explained this by a conjecture, 
that their Creator has given them vital force to com- 
bine the atmospheric oxygen with the hydrogen of their 
food. Our traveller noticed these insects rising on 
their wings from the ground in masses, which resembled 
thin curls of smoke. It was generally at eventide. 
After flying a few yards the wings drop off. 
In the West Indies Mr. Gosse has seen one of the 
parrots, the yellow-bellied Parroquet, build its nest in 
the deserted nest of a White ant. Snakes and lizards 
take refuge in them, and deposit their eggs there. The 
substance of the nest forms an excellent fuel, as it burns 
readily, with a flame and glowing brightness little 
inferior to coal. Mr. Gosse adds, “As no ammoniacal 
smell proceeds from it, and as it consumes into a clear 
white ash, I conjecture that the substance is of vege- 
table origin. It is sought after in those districts and 
seasons in which the mosquitoes make a more than 
endurable pest, in order to be burned in a chafing-dish ; 
as it gives out a good deal of smoke, which is the only 
weapon that those formidable, though minute warriors 
fear. The smoke clears the house of the insect-hosts 
in a few seconds, and is much preferable to that of wood, 
because far less painful to the eyes.”"}" 
Swarms of the winged males and females enter the 
houses in Jamaica in the spring, much to the annoyance 
of the inmates. They flock to the lights, and cast their 
wings voluntarily. 
Mr. Arthur Adams J noticed in Borneo a species of 
White ant which builds a large hemispherical nest on the 
trunk of trees, formed of finely-comminuted leaves and 
mud. The interior consists of great numbers of cancelli, 
separated by walls and passages, which are thronged with 
the small soft-bodied inhabitants. “ On being disturbed the 
big-headed soldiers make absurd and impotent attempts 
to defend their queen and helpless workers, who imme- 
diately retire within the recesses of the city.” When 
viewed from a little distance, this nest looks like a great 
vegetable excrescence, or wen, growing from the bole 
of the tree. 
Lieutenant-colonel James Campbe]l,§ formerly of 
the 48th and 50th regiments, and who for several years 
held a high command in Ceylon, published an interest- 
ing work on Ceylon. He refers to the fearful ravages 
' See Proceedings of the Geographical Society, p. 117; 1860. 
t Naturalist’s Sojourn in Jamaica. 
J Voyage of Samarang, vol. ii., p. 410. 
g Excursions, Adventures, and Field Sports in Ceylon, vol. 
ii., p. 365. 
