440 
TERMES. 
large species of Africa (the Termites helllcosl ) had 
been so long in the nninterrnpted possession of 
such a store, they would not have left twenty 
pounds weight of wood remaining of the whole 
building, and all that it contained. 
“ These insects are not less expeditious in de- 
stroying the shelves, wainscotting, and other fix- 
tures of an house, than the house itself. Tiiey are 
for ever piercing and boring in all directions, and 
sometimes go out of the broadside of one post 
into that of another joining to it; but they prefer 
and always destroy the softer substances the first, 
and are particularly fond of pine and fir-boards, 
Mfiiich they excavate and carry away with wonder- 
ful dispatch and astonishing cunning: for, except 
a shelf has something standing upon it, as a book, 
or any thing else which may tempt them, they 
will not perforate the surface, but artfully preserve 
it quite whole, and eat avray all the inside, except 
a few fibres which barely keep the two sides con- 
nected together, so that a piece of an inch-board 
which appears solid to the eye will not weigh 
much more than two sheets of paste-board of equal 
dimensions, after these animals have been a little 
while in possession of it. In short, the Termites 
are so insidious in their attacks, that we cannot be 
too much on our guard against them: they will 
sometimes begin and raise their works, especially 
in new houses, through the fioor. If you destroy 
the work so begun, and make a fire upon the spot, 
the next night they will attempt to rise througli 
another part ; and, if they ha])pen to emerge 
