The Soul Of The White Ant

Eugène Marais, a South African writer and naturalist, spent many years watching termites on the open veld and recorded what he saw in this study. He describes how a termite mound is built and run, from its earliest beginnings to the queen shut away in her chamber, and he marvels at the strict order of roles that keeps the colony going. Marais compares the whole nest to a single living body. In his view the workers and soldiers act like blood cells, the fungus gardens serve as a digestive system, and the queen directs the group as a brain would. The book also turns to questions of language, instinct and the nature of the insect mind. First published in the 1920s, its close observation and lively style still draw in specialists and curious general readers alike.