All the species of termites are miners, but the greater number are also architects and masons. A few make their nests round a branch of a tree. This nest is of enormous dimensions: it is as large as a tun. The illustration ([Plate X.])—after a drawing in Smeathman's work—shows a nest of the Termes bellicosus, composed of bits of wood firmly stuck together with gum. Above their subterranean galleries the greater part of termites construct vast edifices, which contain their magazines and nurseries. The Termes mordax and Termes atrox raise perfect columns, surmounted by capitals which project beyond them and give them the appearance of monstrous mushrooms. These columns attain a height of twenty inches, with a diameter of five; they are constructed with a black clay, which, worked up by the insects, acquires great hardness. The interior is hollow, or rather perforated with irregular cells; but the most curious edifices are those of Termes bellicosus. These are irregularly conical mounds, flanked by a certain number of turrets, decreasing in height. Smeathman gives them a height of from ten to twelve feet; but Jobson[113] affirms that he has seen some as high as twenty feet. If men constructed monuments so disproportionate to their size, the great pyramid of Giseh, instead of being 146 mètres in height, would be 1,600, and would be higher than the Puy-de-Dôme!
These knolls of earth are of a solidity which will bear any trial. Not only can many men mount on them without shaking them, but buffaloes establish themselves upon them as watch-towers, from which they can see over the high grass which covers the plain, if the lion or the panther is threatening them. These edifices are hollow; but their sides are from fifteen to twenty inches thick, and are as hard as a rock. They are hollowed out into galleries, which connect them with the underground dwelling. Under the dome is a pretty large vacant space, a sort of top storey or attic, occupying one-third of the total height, and which keeps up in the edifice a more uniform temperature than if all the block had been filled up. On a level with the ground is the royal cell, oblong, with a flat floor and a rounded ceiling, and pierced with round windows. All round are distributed the offices; they are rooms also with rounded and vaulted ceilings, communicating with each other by corridors. On the sides rise the magazines, with their backs placed against the walls of the house; they are filled with gums and with vegetable juices solidified and in powder. On the ceiling of the royal chamber rise pillars of about two feet in height, which support the egg rooms. These are little cells with partitions of saw-dust stuck together with gum, which separate at the opening the large chambers from the clay halls. Placed between the attics and the great nave surmounting the royal hall, the nursery is in the most desirable position possible for uniformity of temperature and for ventilation.
The royal cell encloses a unique couple, objects of the most assiduous attentions, but kept in closest captivity, for the doors are too narrow to afford a passage to the monstrous queen, and even to the male, who keeps generally crouching by her side. Thousands of servants busy themselves round the mother; they feed her and carry away, night and day, the myriads of eggs which she lays. The eggs are placed in the egg houses, where they give birth to white larvæ, resembling the workers, which nourish themselves at first on a sort of mouldy fungus which grows on the partitions of their cells. They then become pupæ, then neuters, or males and females, the last two being provided with wings.
On a stormy evening the males and females come out of their nest by millions to couple in the air; then immediately afterwards they fall to the ground and lose their wings, when they become an easy prey to their enemies. A few couples only, picked up by the workers, are put under shelter, and become the nucleus of a new colony. The soldiers have no other occupation but to defend the nest. If man attacks them, at the first blow with the pick-axe they are to be seen running out furiously. They attack their aggressors, pierce them till they bring blood, and with their sharp pincers hang on to the wound, and allow themselves to be torn to pieces rather than leave go their hold. The negroes who have no clothes are soon put to flight; Europeans only get off with their trousers very much spotted with blood. During the combat, the soldiers strike from time to time on the ground with their pincers, and produce a little dry sound, to which the workers answer by a sort of whistling. The workers immediately make their appearance; and with their pellets of mortar set to work to stop up the holes, and to repair the damage. The soldiers then re-enter, with the exception of a small number, who remain to superintend the work of the masons; they give, at intervals, the usual signal, and the workers answer by a whistling which means, "Here we are!" as they redouble their activity. If the attack recommences, the soldiers are at their posts, defending the ground inch by inch. During this time the workers mask the passages, stop up the galleries, and wall up with care the royal cell. If you manage to penetrate as far as this sanctuary, you may pick up and carry away from the cell which contains them the precious couple without the workers in attendance on them interrupting their work, for they are blind.