Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-11-08
A WONDERFUL INSECT.
Romance of the white Ant which Ii
Blind and YET ~Accoruplishss Marvels.
p.gs,a-. s,,.-E.,,

Romance of the white Ant Which ID
Blind and Yet Accompanies Maryels.
Baltimore ARsrfccn.
One portion OF Professor Drummond's
rscsnt look, "Tiopicsl Africa" reads
like q fairy tale. 1t is the wonderful re-
nance Of the white ant. Il is q small in
sect, with = bloatsj, yelloSish white body
and a somewhat large thorax, Oblong-
shaped, and eoIOred a disAgreeaSle olive
bros p. TIE termite lives sluost exClu-
sivsly upon wood, ard the moment a tree
is cnt or q leg saTn for any economical
puIpEe. this INSECT is upon lis track. One
NAY never see the insect, possibly, in the
aesh, for it lives under gcound; but its
rayaqe7 cont ont one ST every turn.
The white ant is blind; it has many enc
mics, and can never procure food until il
comGs above ground. How does it solve
the d Mculty? l. take9 the ground ont
along whit. ! have seen white ants work
ing on the top Ct q high trse, and yet they
were under ground. THY took up some OF
the gaoupd with them 20 thu tree-toT, Just
.s the Esquimaux heap Up snow, buildipg
It into the low tunnel Eut5 in which they
live; so the white ants collect earth, only
IN this clss not fIon the surface, bat from
aome depth underneath the ground into
tunneled Ways. Occasionally these run
along the ground. bat more often mount in
erdleSs Tsmitication to the tops o! trees,
meanderipg slOoy each branch and twig,
qod here AID there debouching into large
covered channels, which occupy half the
girth Of the trCnk. Millions CT trees in
some districts a1e thus fsntsstically plas-
tered over with tubes, galleries and cham
bers of earth, and mary pounds weight OF
subsoil must be brought up for the mining
Of even q single tree.
Pc ring oSer the growing wall cne sO0n
discovers one, Two or moe termites CT q
somewhat larger bIild, considerably longer
aud with q very different arrangement OF
the parts Of the head, and especially Cf the
msndibles. These in 1kiug inGi-
Yidusls sauotar about the rampant in the
most l%e;sure'y WY, bat yet with 8 certain
air of on mess, rs II, perhaps, tbs ore was
The master of TOiks sad the other the arch
itect. They are posted there az sentries,
and there they stand or promenade about
At the mouth Of every tunnel, Ike Sister
Ann, 10 see il anybody is coming. Some
times scms0cdg does C)me in the shsps OF
another ant--'he real ant this time, not the
defenceless Neuropteron, but some valiant
and b.lted knight from the warhks Fo-mi-
eide. Singly or in troops, this rapacious
little insect, fearless in is chitonous coat OF
NAL, charges co IN the tree trdnk, lis
at:enrT waving Gefarce - 1.-THE enemy ard
its cruel ma1dible5 thirsliug for termite
blood.
Tee worker white ant is a poor, defence,
jess creature, and, blind and unarmed,
would fall an immediate p7sy 10 these
we'll drilled b'nlitti, who forage about in
every tropicsli crsst in unnumbered legion.
But al the critical moment, like Gcliah
from the Pnilistires, thu soldier termite
advances to the fight. With a few sweeps
of his s,ythe-like Avs it clears the ground
and wh'l, the attacking party is carrying
of its dead the b1i.ders, unconscious CT
the fray, Vuie'ly continue their work. To
every hundred workers IS q white-apt col
ony, which numbers many thousands o.
inijyiiua.s, there are, Fe-hspJ, two of
these fighting men. The division of labor
here is very wonderful, end the fact that
besides th,se two speCitlize1 forms there
are in every nest two other kinds of tie
same ~insect, the BiIg7 and queens shows
tha remarkable height TO which civilizL-
ton in these communities has attained.
The great ant mounds are built in a
m~eshwork Cr tunnel, galleries and cham
berS. waeIe thu social interests Of the com
munity arc attended to. The most spa
c.o7q of these chambers. usually FAR uUder
grouCd, is very properly ollocated to the
head o. tie socie.y the queen. Tue queen
termite IS 4 very rare insect, end az ttere
are seldom mere than one, or at most tHO,
in a colony, and as the royal, apartments
a'e hidden la- in the earth, few persons
have sv,r sseR a Qusen, and INDEED most,
if they did happen 20 come across it, from
its Singular Appearance, VOuid refuse ia
believe that it had any connection with
white ants. Her one duty in life is to lay
egya, and il must he confessed shs dis
charges hsr function with complete success,
for in q single day her progeny ofe5
amounts to many thousands.