SECTION XVI.

White Ant.

Termes pulsatorius. Termes bellicosus.—LINN.

Of the termes, or white ant genus, there are ten species, of which some are much smaller, and others larger. The most common to our own country, and indeed to Europe at large, is the termes pulsatorius of Linnæus, a diminutive insect, of a whitish colour; and which, from its general resemblance to the insects of that genus, has by Derham and some other naturalists been distinguished by the title of pediculus pulsatorius. It is very frequent, during the summer-months, in houses, particularly where the wainscot is in any degree decayed, and is remarkable for causing a long-continued sound, exactly resembling the ticking of a watch. It is a very common insect in collections of dried plants, &c. which it often injures greatly. It is of so tender a frame as to be easily destroyed by the slightest pressure; and is an animal of very quick motion. When magnified, the head appears large; the eyes remarkably conspicuous, of a most beautiful gold-colour, and divided, like those of most other insects, into innumerable hexagonal convexities; the antennæ long and setaceous; the palpi or feeders two in number, of moderate length, and terminating in a large clubshaped tip; the thorax rather narrow, and the abdomen obtusely oval; the thighs or first joints of the legs thick, the remaining ones slender, and the feet furnished with very small claws: the whole animal is beset with small scattered hairs. According to the observations of the celebrated Derham, this insect, at its first hatching from the egg, which is white, oval, and extremely small, bears a complete resemblance to a common mite, being furnished with eight legs, and beset with long hairs. After a certain time, it casts its skin, and appears in the very different form above described. Some individuals of this species become winged when arrived at their full growth; the wings, which are four in number, being very large, of a slightly iridescent appearance, and variegated with blackish and brown clouds or spots. It is in the beginning of July that this change

takes place, and at this time several may be seen with the wings half-grown; in a few days they seem to obtain their full size.

Mr. Derham imagines the ticking sound which these animals produce, to be analogous to the call of birds to their mates during the breeding season; and there seems to be no reason for calling in question the truth of this observation. We may add, that this sound, as well as that produced by the ptinus fatidicus, or death-watch, seems to afford a convincing proof of the faculty of hearing in insects, which some naturalists have been inclined to deny.

Of the exotic termites, the most remarkable seems to be the termes bellicosus, whose history is described by Mr. Smeathman in the Philosophical Transactions.

With the good order of their subterraneous cities, they will appear foremost on the list of the wonders of the creation, as most closely imitating mankind in provident industry and regular govern

ment.

The termites are represented by Linnæus as the greatest plagues of both Indies, and are indeed every way between the tropics so deemed. These insects have generally obtained the names of ants, it may be presumed, from the similarity in their manner of living; which is in large communities that erect very extraordinary nests, for the most part on the surface of the ground, whence their excursions are made through subterraneous passages, or covered galleries, which they build whenever necessity obliges, or plunder induces, them to march above ground; and at a great distance from their habitations carry on a business of depredation and destruction, scarcely credible but to those who have seen it.

The termites resemble the ants also in their provident and diligent labour, but surpass them as well as the bees, wasps, beavers, and all other animals, in the arts of building, as much as the Europeans excel the least cultivated savages. It is more than probable they excel them as much in sagacity, and the arts of government; it is certain, they shew more substantial instances of their ingenuity and industry than any other animals; and do in fact lay up vast magazines of provisions and other stores; a degree of prudence which has of late years been denied, perhaps without reason, to the

ants.

Their communities consist of one male and one female (who are

generally the common parents of the whole, or greater part, of the rest ;) and of three orders of insects, apparently of very different species, but really the same, which together compose great commonwealths, or rather monarchies, if we may be allowed the

term.

The different species of this genus resemble each other in form, in their manner of living, and in their good and bad qualities; but differ as much as birds, in the manner of building their habitations or nests, and in the choice of the materials of which they compose them.

There are some species which build upon the surface of the ground, or part above and part beneath; and one or two species, perhaps more, that build on the stems or branches of trees, sometimes aloft, at a vast height.

Of every species there are three orders; first, the working insects, which, for brevity, we shall generally call labourers; next the fighting ones, or soldiers, which do no kind of labour; and, last of all, the winged ones, or perfect insects, which are male and female, and capable of propagating.

The nests of the termes bellicosus are so numerous all over the island of Bananas, and the adjacent continent of Africa, that it is scarcely possible to stand upon any open place, such as a rice plantation, or other clear spot, where one of these buildings is not to be seen within fifty paces, and frequently two or three are to be seen almost close to each other. In some parts near Senegal, as mentioned by Monsieur Adanson, their number, magnitude, and closeness of situation, make them appear like the villages of the natives.

These buildings are usually termed hills, by natives as well as strangers, from their outward appearance, which is that of little hills more or less conical, generally pretty much in the form of sugar-loaves, and about ten or twelve feet in perpendicular height above the common surface of the ground.

These hills continue quite bare until they are six or eight feet high; but in time the dead barren clay, of which they are composed, becomes fertilized by the genial power of the elements in these prolific climates, and the addition of vegetable and other matters brought by the wind; and in the second or third year the hillock, if not over-shaded by trees, becomes, like the rest of

the earth, almost covered with grass and other plants; and in the dry season, when the herbage is burnt up by the rays of the sun, it is not much unlike a very large hay-cock.

Every one of these buildings consists of two distinct parts, the exterior and the interior. The exterior is one large shell in the manner of a dome, large and strong enough to inclose and shelter the interior from the vicissitudes of the weather, and the inhabitants from the attacks of natural or accidental enemies. It is always, therefore, much stronger than the interior building, which is the habitable part, divided with a wonderful kind of regularity and contrivance, into an amazing number of apartments for the residence of the king and queen, and the nursing of their numerous progeny; or for magazines, which are always found well filled with stores and provisions.

From these habitations, galleries again ascend, and lead out horizontally on every side, and are carried under ground near to the surface a vast distance; for if you destroy all the nests within one hundred yards of your house, the inhabitants of those which are left unmolested farther off, will nevertheless carry on their subterraneous galleries, and invade the goods and merchandizes contained in it by sap and mine, and do great mischief if you are not very circumspect.

It has been observed, that there are of every species of termites three orders; of these orders, the working insects or labourers are always the most numerous; in the termes bellicosus there seems to be, at the least, one hundred labourers to one of the fighting insects or soldiers. They are in this state about one-fourth of an inch long, and twenty-five of them weigh about a grain; so that they are not so large as some of our ants. The second order, or soldiers, have a very different form from the labourers, and have been by some authors supposed to be the males, and the former neuters; but they are, in fact, the same insects, only they have undergone a change of form, and approached one degree nearer to the perfect state. They are now much larger, being half an inch long, and equal in bulk to fifteen of the labourers. There is now likewise a most remarkable circumstance in the form of the head and mouth; for in the former state, the mouth is evidently calcu lated for gnawing and holding bodies; but in this state the jaws being shaped just like two very sharp awls, a little jagged, they

are incapable of any thing but piercing or wounding for which purposes they are very effectual, being as hard as a crab's claw, and placed in a strong horny head, which is of a nut-brown colour, and larger than all the rest of the body together, which seems to labour under great difficulty in carrying it; on which account perhaps the animal is incapable of climbing up perpendicular surfaces. The third order, or the insect in its perfect state, varies its form still more than ever. The head, thorax, and abdomen, differ almost entirely from the same parts in the labourers and soldiers; and, besides this, the animal is now furnished with four fine, large, brownish transparent wings, with which it is at the time of emigration to wing its way in search of a new settlement. We may open twenty nests without finding one winged insect, for those are to be found only just before the commencement of the rainy season, when they undergo the last change, which is preparative to their colonization.

In the winged state, they have also much altered their size as well as form. Their bodies now measure between six and seven tenths of an inch in length, and their wings above two inches and a half from tip to tip, and they are equal in bulk to about thirty labourers, or two soldiers. They are now also furnished with two large eyes, placed on each side of the head, and very conspicuous; if they have any before, they are not easily to be distinguished. Probably in the two first states, their eyes, if they have any, may be small, like those of moles; for as they live, like these animals, always under ground, they have as little occasion for these organs, and it is not to be wondered at that we do not discover them; but the case is much altered when they arrive at the winged state, in which they are to roam, though but for a few hours, through the wide air, and explore new and distant regions. In this form the animal comes abroad during, or soon after, the first tornado, which, at the latter end of the dry season, proclaims the approach of the ensuing rains; and seldom waits for a second, or third shower, if the first, as is generally the case, happens in the night, and brings much wet after it.

The quantities that are to be found the next morning all over the surface of the earth, but particularly on the waters, are astonishing; for their wings are only calculated to carry them a few