1849.] 217 



upon and not precedent to pairing, should be shut up, seems questionable. We 

 make these obi^ervations with hesitation, because Latrielle, and Kirby and 

 Spence seem to adopt, without hesitation, this statement of Smeathman." 



I feel it ray duty to notice particularly this doubt, coming as it does from a 

 source of such high respectability as the present Corresponding Secretary of the 

 London Ent. Soc, J. O. Westwood, Esq. 



It should be remembered that in penning this doubt, Mr. W. was sitting within 

 doors at Hammersmith, Eng., many thousand miles distant from the scene of Mr. 

 Smeathman's patient and prolonged observation. Mr. S. states what he Inev} to 

 he a fact, and, respecting which, I can see no way in which he could be mis- 

 taken. Mr. W. misapprehends a remark of Mr. Smeathman on their "swarm- 

 ing," if it can be so called. I do not understand Mr. S. to state that the queen 

 is accompanied by any other individuals than those of the two sexes — other per- 

 fect males and females. He says that as vmrJcers are always to be found on the 

 surface of th6grou7i(i, the king and queen are captured by them, and thus made 

 to become the heads of new communities. On what foundation this statement 

 rests, I know not; but must confess that in this part of their economy I think 

 there exists a lucuna yet to be filled. As to the statement, however, involving 

 the perpetual imprisonment of the king anti queen, I have no doubt. The facts 

 respecting the structure of the "royal chamber" sufficiently prove it. Any one 

 who has seen a fully developed queen, will say that she is incapable of progres- 

 sion, and the fact that no aperture has been discovered in the " chamber " among 

 the many hills dissected at different seasons, sufficient to admit of the ingress 

 and egress of the king, and hardly of the larger class of soldiers, must suffice. 



It has been stated also by compilers of Smeathman, that the insect shrinks 

 from light, which is a reason for their constructing covered ways. But, if it be 

 remembered that the two orders — soldiers and workers — are perfectly blind, the 

 assertion must appear to be gratuitous. The true cause of their erection of 

 covered ways would seem to lie in the fact that the insect is a prey to a vast 

 number of other insects, reptiles, &c. 



Smeathman and others state that Termes bellicosus is the insect which de- 

 vours dwelling houses, furniture, &c. This also I consider an error. I doubted 

 its accuracy at the inception of my observations, and made inquiries subsequently 

 of intelligent observers at Sierra Leone and Montserrado, all of whom confirmed 

 me in my doubts. The white ants found in our houses, preying on our furniture, 

 books, &c., are smaller, and larger in projiortion to their breadth than T. belli- 

 cosus. The soldiers which accompany the laborers and found with them in their 

 covered ways along the sills, floors and roofs of our houses, differ palpably in 

 these respects from those of T. bellicosus. I made known my doubts on this 

 point to my correspondent, Mr. Westwood, of London, proving the truth of my 

 statement by specimens taken from my own dwellings, but, unfortunately, the 

 bottles containing them were broken, and I failed of my object. I consider these 

 house eaters as the T. arborum of Smeathman. One of their nests, indeed, I 

 found in the roof of my office, and by them great damage was done to the build- 

 ing, besides many books were destroyed, having been eaten through and through. 

 Another nest also was found in a small outbihilding ; the insects of these two 

 nests corresponded to those found in my dwellings, &c., while marked differences 

 existed between the latter and T. hellicosus. I regret exceedingly that the steps 

 to prove this opinion have failed in the manner above stated. I hesitate not, 

 however, to assert it, confirmed as it is by other observers. 



30 



