Termites

ter'mitz, or White Ants, a family of social insects. They are not related to the ant. They are widely distributed, chiefly in the tropics, where they not infrequently build hills ten to twelve feet high and cut underground passages of such extent that animals require to pick their way to avoid a fall. African explorers have reported localities rendered impassable for ox teams. Certain northern species inhabit old logs, stumps, and chambers dug under stones. The termite family consists of a winged king and queen, wingless soldiers with huge heads, and, finally, dirty-white workers who perform the labor of the establishment. They are miners and avoid the light. Except that the kings and queens from numerous colonies swarm forth for a day or two during the pairing season, the life of the entire colony is subterranean. During the breeding season, the queen occupies a chamber hollowed out for her by the workers. She is so swollen with eggs that she lies helpless as a potato. The workers feed her and remove the eggs as fast as they are laid. Florida orange growers have suffered from the underground operations of "white ants" that girdle the trees. These Florida "ants" are said to be working their way northward. They are reported to have reached Illinois. In tropical countries, these "ants" are destructive of woodwork, eating out the interior till the surface crumbles under the touch. They have been known to enter the legs of a table by boring through the floor, and to devour the interior of legs and top unsuspected, until the table fell under a slight weight. A recent writer of apparent credibility states that it is necessary to plant the poles of certain telephone lines in India in iron sockets to prevent their being entered from the ground and eaten hollow. This writer adds that a workman left his tool chest and overalls unguardedly, and returned in a few days to find nothing left of his overalls but buttons, and nothing of his chest but screws, hinges and locks. His tools were minus all their wooden parts.