162 INSECT MISCELLANIES- 



and attached to it on every side. All the glasses, 

 which were covered with the wooden substance of 

 their nests, retained a cloud of a gummy nature upon 

 them that was not easily got off, and the laquer or 

 burnish with which the brass-work was covered was 

 totally spoilt. Another party had taken a liking 

 to the staves of a Madeira cask, and had let out 

 almost a pipe of fine old wine. If the large species 

 of Africa ( Termites bellicosi) had been so long in the 

 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 destroy- 

 ing the shelves, wainscoting, and other fixtures of 

 a house, than the house itself They 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 first, and are particularly 

 fond of pine and fir boards, which they excavate and 

 carry away with wonderful despatch and astonishing 

 cunning : for, except a shelf has something standing 

 upon it, as a book, or anything else which may tempt 

 them, they will not perforate the surface, but artfully 

 preserve it quite whole, and eat away all the inside, 

 except a few fibres, which barely keep the two sides 

 connected 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 dimen- 

 sions, after these animals had been a little while in 

 possession of it. In short, the termites are so insi- 

 dious 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 floor. If you destroy the works so begun, 

 and make a fire upon the spot, the next night they 

 will attempt to rise through another part ; and if 



