Excerpt from Hardwicke's Science-Gossip: An Illustrated Medium of Interchange and Gossip for Students and Lovers of NatureThe nests of the Termites, or White Ants, are very common in India, but although so common, there is not one person in a thousand who has seen the internal economy of one of these wonderful abodes. I had often wished to do so, and although I had resided very many years in the country, during most of which I had studied natural history and collected specimens, it was not until twenty years or more had passed that I had an opportunity.This was at Etawah, N.-W. Provinces, in 18077, and the result was so curious and interesting that I think it worth recording in Science-Gossip, whose pages are devoted to such topics.I had offered a reward for a queen white ant, and at the same time I determined to dig for one myself, not that the natives were not well aware of the locality of her abode, but that they would not take the trouble to dig her out. I had observed several mounds formed by these insects near the gate of the court-house, and one morning, taking with me three men, I dug up the hard-baked soil in their midst. There were five of these conical elevations, the highest being the central. This was about a foot and a half above the level of the plain, whilst the four smaller ones, which were placed at the corners of a square of perhaps five feet, in the midst of which stood the chief one, or citadel, were each perhaps eight inches in height.It was on the 22nd of November, so that there had not been any rain for some months, and thegrass was all dried up, and the earth extremely hard. I first cut off the heads of each of the mounds to ascertain the direction of the chief galleries, as well as to sec which was the residence of royalty, and where the nurseries might be placed.Within each eminence were large domed chambers supported on massive pillars composed of the finest sand, all of which had passed through the bodies of the workers ere it had been incorporated into the compact substance of which the sand pillar was constructed. There were also flying bridges, with footpaths on them trodden smooth and polished by the passage of the millions of feet of these blind insects, into whose habitations light never enters. All paths tended towards the centre, although by digging I came on several granaries and sets of nursery-cells. These granaries are very curious structures, being as slightly constructed and friable as the general structure is solid, story upon story of cells supported by frequent walls and pillars, all of which would crumble in the hand.The former are placed in hollow spaces excavated for the purpose, each about the size of a child's head, and contain some kind of food, supposed by many to be inspissated juices of the roots of trees, and resembling in appearance little globules of brown gum. There are perhaps three or four such granaries attached to every nest. The nurseries resemble the granaries in a great measure. In them grows a minute white fungus, much resembling a button mushroom, and about the size of a small pin's-head. This was formerly taken for food by many observers, but I do not think that it is so. It, however, abounds to such an extent that it causes the floor of the cells to assume a grey appearance, the colour of the earth being of a light brown. In these nurseries, which arc in general about the same size as the granaries, may be observed the working ants and nurses carrying about and feeding from their own mouths the larvæ in various stages.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com