230 LIFE AND HER CHILDREN. 
nurseries there are innumerable galleries and passages, 
which are all so arranged that air passes through the 
whole building. The work goes on in perfect order ; 
some tend the queen, and all show her the utmost 
attention and affection ; some store the eggs ; some 
look after the young ; while others enlarge the build- 
ing or tunnel for long distances underground to get 
food. And all this is done by blind workers in pitch 
darkness, with a regularity and precision which is 
most marvellous, and can probably only be accounted 
for by the supposition that their antennae are far more 
delicate and useful implements than we can as yet 
understand. 
There are many species of these Termites. Some 
live in buildings, and the town of La Rochelle in 
France where they have probably been brought from 
the West Indies, has been sadly damaged by them. 
Others in Africa build enormous mounds of clay and 
earth (see Fig. 78), as much as from twelve to twenty 
feet high, and so strong that the buffaloes stand 
upon them to look over the plains ; and inside these 
are innumerable galleries and floors of storehouses 
and nurseries. If an attempt is made to destroy 
these mounds the soldier termites, which are about 
one in a hundred as compared to the workers, swarm 
out and fall upon the enemy, while the workers begin at 
once to repair the damage. Other species build nests 
in tall trees, driven there, no doubt, to escape from the 
true ants, which, having hard bodies, can attack the 
soft termites and destroy them easily. Lastly, there 
are some which come above ground and march from 
place to place like a regular army ; and these are the 
most remarkable, for not only have the soldiers and 
