disliked them, for they
were the most insidious, destructive little brutes of that region. They
were ugly in appearance, with their fat white bodies of a dirty
greenish-white colour. Nevertheless one could not help having great
admiration for those little rascals, which in one night were able to
devour the bottom of stout wooden boxes, and in a few hours damaged
saddles, clothes, shoes, or any article which happened to be left resting
for a little while on the ground. They were even able to make an entire
house tumble down in a comparatively short time if the material used in
the construction were wood.

Yes, one hated them; yet, when one knew all about them, one had to spend
hours watching their doings with a microscope, it was so interesting.
They seemed to have two social classes among them--the labouring class
and the warriors. To the labourers was given the heavy task of digging
underground channels, the surplus earth of which was thrown up with great
force through apertures in the soil until the earth so displaced and
amassed formed a high heap, riddled in its interior by hundreds of
channels and miniature chambers and apartments. To the warriors--really
more like a kind of perfect police service--was entrusted the safety of
the colony and principally the protection of the young. White ants have
many enemies, especially among the larger ants, which carry on regular
wars against them; for although ants and termites--commonly called white
ants--have many points in common, yet they belong to totally different
orders of insects, as can be easily noticed in their structure and
development. The peculiar structure of the enlarged heads of the warrior
termites was particularly noticeable. Some had a formidable head provided
with tentacles and powerful rodent clippers--as well as the peculiar
whitish cuirasses in sections of the body. The workers had more normal
shapes, the head being better proportioned with the body.

It was enough to split one of the heaps and watch the termites at work to
learn a lesson of what devotion and duty mean. In the many passages
overcrowded with ants--there was never confusion--you saw hundreds of
them, either conveying food or building materials to the various
quarters. Some carried leaves, others carried pieces of wood, seeds, or
dead insects. If one was not strong enough to convey its load, others
came to its assistance--although they generally seemed to resent the
intrusion of others in