Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-07-21
WHITE ANTS OF africa.
A Poor Creature. Blind and Unarmcd-
The Fighting Men-tlueen.


The Fighting Men-elueen-
The white ant is blind, it has many cne-
mics, and can never procure food until it
comes above ground How does it solve
the difficulty? 1t takes the ground ont
along with it. have seen white ants
working on the top of high tree, and yet
it was underground. They took up some
of the ground with them to the tree top;
just as the Esquimaux heap snow up,
building it into the low tunnel huts In
which they live, SO the white ants collect
earth, only in this case not from the sur
face, but from some depth underneath the
ground, and plaster it into tunneled ways
Occasionally these run along the ground.
but more often mount in endless ramilcs-
ton to the tops of trees, meandering
along every branch and twig, and here and
there debouching into large covered cham
bers which occupy half the girth Of the
trunk Millions of trees in some districts
are thus Enthusiastically plastered over with
tubes. galleries, and chambers of earth,
and many pounds weight of subsoil must
be brought up for the mining of even
single tree.
Peering over the growing wall one soon
discovers one, two or more termltes OF
q somewhat larger build, considerably
longer and especially of the mandibles
These important looking individuals saun-
ter about the rampant in the most leis-
urely way, but yet with certain air of
business, as if perhaps one was the master
of works and the other the architect.
They are posted there as sentries, and
there they stand, or promenade about, at
the mouth of every tunnel, like Sister
Ann, to see if anybody is coming. Some
sop,ahnIv Inao in tho sham
of another ant-the real ant this time,
not the defenseless neuropteron, but some
valiant and belted knight from the war
like formicide. Single or in troops this
rapacious little insect. fearless in its chit
onous coat of mail, charges down the tree
trunk, its antenne waving defiance to the
enemy and its cruel mandibles thirsting
for termite blood.
The worker white ant is a poor, de.
fenseless creature, and, blind and I'M
armed, would fall an immediate prey to
these well drilled bandtti, who forage
about in every tropical forest in unnum-
bered legion. But at the critical moment,
like Goliath from the Philistines, the
soldier termite advances to the fight.
With few sweeps of its scythelike jaws
it clears the ground, and while the attack
ing party is carrying off its dead the
builders, unconscious of the fray, quietly
continue their work To every hundred
workers in white ant colony, which
numbers many thousands of individuals,
there are perhaps two of these fighting
men. The division of labor here is very
wonderful, and the fact that besides
these two specialized forms there are in
every nest two other kinds of the same
insect, the kings and queens, shows the
remarkable height to which civilization in
these communities has attained
These mounds are built into a mesh
work of tunnels. galleries and chambers
where the social interests of the com
munity are attended to. The most
spacious of these chambers, usually far
underground, is very properly allocated
to the head of the society the queen.
The queen termite is very rare insect,
and as there are seldom more than one, or
at most two, to q colony. and as the royal
apartments are hidden far in the earth,
few persons have ever seen a queen, and
indeed most, if they did happen to come
across it. from its very singular appear
ance, would refuse to believe that it had
any connection with white ants. Her one
duty in life is to lay eggs, and it must be
confessed she discharges her function
with complete success. for in single day
her progeny often amounts to many thou
sands.-Pall Mall Gazette.