64
SANTAREM.
Chap. I.
played, when, in making a hole in the earthy cemented archway of their covered roads, a host of these little fellows mounted the breach to cover the retreat of the workers. The edges of the rupture bristled with their armed heads as the courageous warriors ranged themselves in compact line around them. They at-
1—8. Soldiers of different species of White Ants.—9. Ordinary shape of worker.—10. Winged class.
tacked fiercely any intruding object, and as fast as their front ranks were destroyed, others filled up their places. When the jaws closed in the flesh, they suffered themselves to be torn in pieces rather than loosen their hold. It might be said that this instinct is rather a cause of their ruin than a protection when a colony is attacked by the well-known enemy of Termites, the ant-bear; but it is the soldiers only
