at his ease, for l'Encuerado, instead of running away,
drew his bill-hook, assuming a threatening attitude to his enemies, and,
like one of Homer's heroes, defied them to come near him. At last the
whole band of beetles united and suspended themselves to the branch of a
ceiba, a tree for which the Hercules beetle shows a marked preference.

But we had in the mean time quite forgotten our dinners, so we set off
hunting in various directions. I skirted the edge of the forests,
accompanied by Sumichrast and Lucien. We had walked for an hour without
finding any thing, when four partridges, with ash-colored breasts, tawny
wings, and tufted heads, rose about fifty paces from us, and settled
down a little farther on. Having arrived within easy gunshot, I told my
son to fire when I did, and two of them (which _savants_ call the Sonini
partridge) fell dead on the ground. These pretty birds are rarely met
with in Mexico, at least in the part where we were.

I now returned towards the bivouac, taking a path through the forest.

"Oh papa, here's a great sponge!" cried Lucien, suddenly.

On our right there was a shapeless, porous, yellowish mass, rising three
or four feet above the ground. I saw at once that it was the nest of a
termite, or ant, which the Mexicans call _comejen_.

"It is a nest of white ants," I said to my son; "they are insects of the
neuropteral order, and allied to the _libellula_."

"But where are they?"

"You will soon see," I answered.

So, kicking the spongy mass, immediately out came a multitude of
insects, which swarmed about in every direction, as if to ascertain the
cause of the disturbance. Lucien wanted to examine them closer.

"Take care," I called out to him; "the termites you see are nothing but
the inoffensive workers; the soldier ants will soon make their
appearance, and if they bite you they will certainly draw blood."

Lucien looked at me, thinking I was joking.

"I am speaking quite seriously," I hastened to add; "termites, like bees
and ants, the latter of which they much resemble at first sight, live in
communities, and build nests which are often larger than the one you are
looking at. This nest, skillfully divided into cells, contains a king, a
queen, workmen, and soldiers. The workmen are the clever architects,
whose duty it is to build, maintain, and, in case of need, increase the
curious edifice which you took for a sponge. The only duty of the
soldiers is fighting against enem