210 
STRANGE DWELLINGS. 
Bayeiye chief. Wishing to show the chief the superiority of 
European cookery, Mr. Anderson spread some apricot jam on 
bread, and offered it to him. The chief took it, and expressed 
himself much pleased with it, but asserted that Termites were i 
much superior in flavour. In order to catch the Termites in J 
sufficient numbers, the native makes a hole in the nest, and j 
when the workers are congregated for the purpose of repairing 1 
the breach, he sweeps them into a vessel, and repeats the opera- 
tion until he has obtained as many as he wants. 
As is the case with the true ants, the Termites only retain | 
their wings for a limited period, using them for the purpose of 
escaping from the nest, and snapping them off as soon as they i 
have met with a partner. The manner in which the wings are |l 
fixed to the body is the same in both groups of insects, and 
these singular organs are shed by being bent sharply for- 
wards. If a living Termite be caught, and its wings pressed 
forward with a pin, they will instantly snap off ; but if bent j 
backwards, a piece of the body will be torn away before the 
wings can be removed. 
As to the Termites of Southern America, much information 
may be obtained from Mr. Bates’s valuable work on the natural | 
history of the Amazons. As many of his remarks simply prove 
the identity of habits between the Termites of the old world and 
those of the new, I shall say nothing about them, but merely 
give a brief abstract of his observations. j 
As with the species which have already been described, the 
soldiers are the only individuals that fight. When, therefore, 
the ant-bear tears down the walls of the nest and begins to lick j 
up the inmates, none but the soldiers are killed, they having 
come out to fight the enemy, while the workers have all run 
away and hidden themselves underground. In consequence of | 
this fact, the economy of the nest is but slightly disturbed, and ! 
after the ant-bear has gone away, the workers begin to raise 
their walls afresh. 
It must be remembered that the nests of the Termite are not 
confined to the surface, but extend to a considerable distance 1 
