Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v2.djvu/80

 after studying the habits of these insects daily for several months, that the winged Termites were males and females in about equal numbers, and that some of them, after shedding their wings and pairing, became Kings and Queens of new colonies; also, that the soldiers and workers were individuals which had arrived at their full growth without passing through the same stages as their fertile brothers and sisters.

A Termitarium, although of different shape, size, texture of materials, and built in different situations, according to the species, is always composed of a vast number of chambers and irregular intercommunicating galleries, built up with particles of earth or vegetable matter, cemented together by the saliva of the insects. There is no visible mode of ingress or egress, the entrances being connected with covered roads, which are the sole means of communication with the outer world. The structures are prominent objects in all tropical countries. The very large hillocks at Santarem are the work of many distinct species, each of which uses materials differently compacted, and keeps to its own portion of the tumulus. One kind, Termes arenarius, on which these remarks are chiefly founded, makes little conical hillocks of friable structure, a foot or two in height, and is generally the sole occupier. Another kind (Termes exiguus) builds small dome-shaped papery edifices. Many species live on trees, their earthy nests, of all sizes, looking like ugly excrescences on the trunks and branches. Some are wholly subterranean, and others live under the bark, or in the interior of trees: it is these two latter