THE WHITE ANT 
333 
here we perceive that leather is also included ; though the 
white ant draws the line at green canvas. 
Throughout the African forest one sees trees by the 
hundred coated or streaked with this grey earthy cement. 
Every dead tree or fallen bough is certain to be so 
enveloped—and eaten. Hence the wreckage of the 
forest quickly disappears. But even vigorous living 
trees frequently display a winding streak of grey mud 
ascending their boles. For so marvellous is the instinct 
of the termite for detecting the neighbourhood of dead 
wood, that he is able to diagnose the existence of 
decayed branches far overhead ; and to these unerringly 
leads that covered sap, though the work involves building 
a tunnel 30 or 40 feet high. It may be that he works 
on “ speculation ” ? 
In open country, outside the forests, termites practise 
their veneering arts upon lowly bush and shrub, or even 
condescend to encase a few blades of dry grass here and 
there; the general effect of the earthy encrustation in 
these latter cases resembling a sort of petrifaction. 
Hence the white ant does properly belong to the 
“unseen world,” for he lives, works, and feeds ever¬ 
lastingly under cover, and never sees the light of day ; 
indeed, as already stated, the termite is stone-blind. He 
is still “underground” when at the summit of a lofty 
tree, for he has carried the ground up with him. 
One of the most charming of books is Professor 
Henry Drummond’s Tropical Africa , a work replete not 
only with the true spirit of science but with the dual 
saving graces that so adorn, if they do not always 
characterise, treatises on such subjects as these, to wit 
—a lightsome touch of humour, with a solid substratum 
of common-sense. For biological details regarding not 
only the “white ant” but a whole host of mimetic insects 
—stories that read like romance—I would earnestly beg 
any reader who has felt interested in my own feeble yarn, 
to refer to that delightful book. It was published more 
