A Journey to Ashango-Land; And Further Penetration Into Equatorial Africa baixar o livro de graça

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1867 Excerpt: ... the firm and solid structure of the entire nest. Sun and rain are equally fatal to the white ants; thus it is necessary that they should build a hive impervious to light, heat, and rain. I have put white ants in the sun, and they were shortly afterwards killed by its heat. I thought each cell was, perhaps, inhabited only by one ant, but the great number I saw in each mushroom-like edifice made it quite improbable that it should be so. I believe these white ants of the prairie are quite a different species from those which live in subterranean dwellings, and which make their appearance suddenly through the floor of one's hut and devour all substances made of cotton or paper; these are very fond of eating wood, and are often found in dead trees. In these species, the sense of smell, or some other sense equivalent to it, must be very acute. One may retire to bed in fancied security, with no sign of white ants about, and in the morning wake to find little covered ways overspreading the floor and chests of clothing and stores, and the contents of the chest entirely destroyed, with thousands of the busy ants engaged in cutting the things with their sharp jawblades. Everything made of wool or silk is, however, invariably spared. At Mayolo this kind of ant was very abundant, and was a cause of much anxiety to me. Tree Ant.--Now that I have tried to the best of my abilities to give an account of what I call the mushroom-building white ant, I will speak of another species which lives in the forest, and which is often a near neighbour of the other. In the forest there is a species which makes its hives or nests between the ribs of the trunks of trees. The nests are from four to seven feet long, and six to eight inches broad, and are formed externally of several slant...