of the queen and her husband. Round this
royal chamber is found a whole labyrinth of small rooms, inhabited by
the soldiers and workmen. The space between them and the outer wall of
the building is used partly for store-rooms and partly for the purpose
of nurseries. A subterranean passage leads from a distance to the very
centre of the building. It is cylindrical, and lined with cement. On
reaching under the bottom of the fortress, it branches out in numerous
small passages, ascending the outer shell in a spiral manner, winding
round the whole of the building to the summit, and intersecting numerous
galleries one above the other, full of cells. The outer end of the
great gallery, by which the mound is approached, also branches off into
numerous small ones, so as to allow a passage into it from various
directions. As the ants cannot climb a perpendicular wall without
difficulty, all their ascents are gradual. It is through this great
passage that they convey the clay, wood, water, and provisions to their
colony.

To give you a correct idea of the way these curious mounds are built and
stocked with inhabitants, I should tell you that the perfect termites
are seen at certain seasons in vast quantities covering the earth, each
having four narrow wings folded on each other. They are instantly set
upon by their enemies--reptiles of all sorts, and numerous birds--who
eat such quantities, that out of many thousands but few pairs escape
destruction. There are besides them in their fortress vast numbers of
labourers, who only issue forth with caution to obtain provisions and
materials for their abodes. When these discover a couple of the perfect
termites who have escaped destruction, they elect them as their
sovereigns, and escorting them to a hollow in the earth which they at
once form, they establish a new community. Here they commence building,
forming a central chamber in which the royal pair are ensconced; while
they go on with their work, building the galleries and passages which
have been described, till the mound has reached the dimensions of those
we have seen. The king in a short time dies, but his consort goes on
increasing in bulk till she attains the enormous length of three inches,
and a width in proportion. She now commences laying her eggs, at the
rate, it is said, of nearly sixty in a minute. This often continues
night and day for two years, in which time fifty million eggs have been
laid. These a