THE TERMITE , OR WHITE ANT. 
21 1 
in the earth, the subterranean galleries being proportionately 
large to the superimposed nest. Indeed, the greater part of the 
material with which the walls and galleries are built is brought 
from below and carried upwards through the nest itself. There 
is no visible outlet to a Termite’s nest, because the insects 
construct long galleries through which they can pass without 
suffering inconvenience from the light of day. Both the workers 
and soldiers are blind ; but, in spite of the absence of external 
visual organs, they are very sensitive to light, and avoid it in 
every possible way. 
The food of the Termite is of a vegetable character, and 
consists mostly of wooden fibres. They will, however, eat 
through almost anything, and the traveller in hot climates finds 
them among his worst troubles. They will cut to pieces the 
mat on which a man is lying. They will eat nearly all the 
wood of his strong box, leaving a mere shell no thicker 
than the paper on which this account is printed. They will 
devour all his collection of plants, beasts, birds and insects ; 
and a table or any other article of furniture, if left too long 
in one position, will be utterly ruined by the Termites, 
which have a fashion of eating away all the interior, but 
leaving just a thin shell, which looks as if nothing were the 
matter. 
When the adult Termites leave their homes, they often fly in 
such clouds that they fill the rooms, and even put out the lamps 
by their numbers. As soon as they touch ground they shed 
their wings, and then they begin to find how many enemies 
they have. Of the myriad hosts that pour into the evening air, 
not one in twenty thousand survives to found a new colony. 
They have foes above, below, and on every side. The bats 
and goatsuckers hold high festival on these evenings when the 
Termites are abroad, and after the insects have cast their wings 
they are pursued by ants, toads, spiders, and a host of other 
enemies. 
We will now pass to the European Termites, whose history 
is elaborately given by M. de Quatrefages. Rochefort, Saintes, 
