INDIRECT BENEFITS DERIVED FROM INSECTS. 273 



some of them are very useful in destroying a weevil, Apion 

 jiavifemoratum^^ the great enemy of our crops of clover 

 seed. 



Amongst the devourers of insects in their ■perfect state 

 only, must be ranked a few of the social tribes, ants, 

 wasps, and hornets. The first-mentioned indefatigable 

 and industrious creatures kill and carry off great num- 

 bers of insects of every descrijjtion to their nests, and 

 prodigious are their efforts in this work. I have seen an 

 ant dragging a wild bee many times bigger than itself; 

 and there was brought to me this very morning while 

 writing this letter, an Elater quite alive and active, which 

 three or four ants in spite of its struggles were carrying 

 off. An observing friend of mine^, who was some time 

 in Antigua, informed me that in that island, a kind of ant 

 which construct their nests in the roofs of houses, when 

 they meet with any animal larger than they can carry off 

 alive, such as a cock-roach, &c., will hold it by the legs 

 so that it cannot move, till some of them get upon it and 

 dispatch it, and then with incredible labour carry it up 

 to their nest. Madam Merian, in her account of the 

 periodical ants mentioned to you before '^, and which is 

 confirmed by Azara**, notices their clearing the houses 

 of cock-roaches and similar animals ; and Myrmica om- 

 nivora is very useful in Ceylon in destroying the former 

 insect, the larger ant, and the white ant^. 



You are not perhaps accustomed to regard wasps and 

 hornets as of any use to us ; but they certainly destroy an 

 infinite number of flies and other annoying insects. The 

 year 1811 was remarkable for the small number of wasps, 



» Linn. Trans, vi. 149. Kirby, Ibid. ix. 42. 23. 

 " The late R. Kittoe, Esq. *^ p. 123. 



'' Voj/ages, i. 185. •" Percival's Ceylon, 307. 



VOL. I. T 



