Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1888-07-28
AFRIcA's WHITE ANTS,
The Build Structures of Clay In the Trees
and on the Ground.

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The Build Structures of Clay in the Trees
and on the Ground.
The white ant is blind; it has many
enemies, and can never procure food
until ii comes above ground. How does
it solve the difficulty? 1t takes the
ground out along with it. lhave seen
white ants working on the top OF a
high tree, and yet it was under ground.
They took up some of the ground with
them to the tree top; Just as the Esqui-
maux heap now 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 surface, but from
some depth underneath the ground,
and plaster it into tunneled ways. Oc-
~casiOnally these run along the ground,
but more often mount in endless rami-
t~ication to the tops of trees, meander-
ing along every branch and twig, and
here and there d~ebouching into large
covered chambers which occupy half
!, the girth of the trunk. Millions Of
! trees in some districts are thus fantas-
i; %tically plastered over with tubes, gal
leries and chambers ofearth, and many
pounds weight of subsoil must be
brought up for the mining of even a
single tree.
Peering over the growing wall one
soon discovers one, two or more ter
mites of a somewhat larger build, con-
siderably longer, and especially of the
mandibles. These impOrtant-looking
individuals saunter about the rampant
in the most l~eisurely way, but yet with
a 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
any body is coming. Sometimes some
body does come in the shape of another
ant-the real ant this time, not the de-
fenseleSs neuropterOn, but some val
liant and belted knight from the war
like formicidT. Single or in troops
this rapacious little insect, fearless in
its c%hi;onous coat Of mail, charges
down the tree trunk, its antennH way
ing defiance to the enemy and its cruel
mandibles thirsting for termite blood,
The worker white ant is a poor, de-
fcnseless creature, and blind and I'M
armed would fall an immediate prey to
these well-drilled banditti, who forage
about in every tropical forest in un-
numbered legion. But at the critical
moment, like Goliath from the Philis-
tines, the soldier termite advances to
the fight. With "A few sweeps of its
scythe-like jaws it clears the ground,
and while the attacking party is car
rylng OIL its dead the builders, uncon-
scious OF the fray, quietly continue
their work. To every one hundred
workers in a white-ant colony, which
numbers many thousands OF individu-
ais, 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 remark
Bile height TO which civilization in
these communities has attained.
These mounds are built into a mesh
work Of tunnels, galleries and cham
bers where the social interests of the
community are attended to. Tho
most spacious Of these chambers, usl-
ally far underground, is very properly
allocatcd to the head OF the society,
the queen. The queen-termite is u
a very rare insect, and as there arc
seldom more than one. or at most two
to "A colony, and as the royal apart
ments are hidden far in the earth few
persons have ever seer a queen, and
indeed most, if they did happen to
come across it, from its very singular
appearance, 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 a single day her pro-
geny often amounts to many thousands.
Pal Mail Gazcte.