Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1888-07-21
WHITE ANTS or AFRICA.
A Poor Creature, Blind and Unarmed
The Fighting Mcn--Queen.

Ihe IfghtnB 1cn-Cueen.
The white ant is blind, II has many cne-
mics, and can never procure food until II
comes above ground. How does II solve
the difIlcultyf It takes the ground out
along with IT, have seen white ants
working on the top Of high tree, and yet
il was underground They took mp some
Of the ground with them 20 the tree top;
Just as the Esquimaux heap snow up,
building IL 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 StonR the ground,
but more often mount in endless ramifice-
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 fantastically 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 termites of
o somewhat larger build, considerably
longer, and especially of the mnndibles
These important looking individuals saun-
ter about the rampant in tho most leis-
urely way, but yet with a certain air of
business as IL perhaps one was the master
Of works and the other the architect.
They are posted there as sentries, and
there they stand, or promenade abont, at
the mouth of every tunnel, like Sister
Ann, to see If anybody is coming. Some
times somebody does come in the shapt
of another ant--the real ant this time
not the defenseless neuropteron, but some
valiant and belted knight from the war
like formlcide. Single or in troops this
rapacious little insect. fearless in its chit
onous coat Of mail, charges down the tree
trunk, its antennn waving defiance to the
enemy and its cruel mandibles thirsting
for termite blood.
The worker white ant is poor, de-
fenseless creature, and, blind and un.
armed, would fall an immediate prey TO
these well drilled banditti, who forage
about in every tropical forest In unnum-
bered legion. But at the critical moment,
like Goliath from the Phlistines, the
soldier termite advances to the fight.
With few sweeps of its scythelike jaws
II clears the ground, and while the attack
ing parry 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 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, OF
at most two, TO a colony, and as the royal
apartments are hidden far in the earth
few persons have ever seen q queen, and
indeed most, If they did happen to come
across it, from its very singular appear.
ance, would refuse to believe that 1t 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. Pail Mall Gazette.