THEIR HABITS. 33 



of Madeira, and worked so effectually on the staves, 

 as to let out the liquor. 



The larger species (for there are several) chiefly 

 make their approaches under ground, penetrating be- 

 neath the foundation of houses or stores, and rising 

 again, either through the floors, or by entering the 

 bottom of the posts that support the building ; when 

 they follow the course of the fibres, and make their 

 way to the top, boring holes and cavities in different 

 places as they proceed. Multitudes enter the roof, 

 and intersect it with pipes, or galleries, formed of wet 

 clay ; which serve for passages in all directions, and 

 enable them more readily to fix their habitation in 

 it. They prefer the softer woods, such as pine and 

 fir, which they hollow out with such nicety, that they 

 leave the surface whole, after having eaten away the 

 inside. A shelf or plank attacked in this manner 

 looks solid to the eye, when, if weighed, it will not 

 out-balance two sheets of pasteboard of the same 

 dimensions. It sometimes happens that they carry 

 this operation so far, on stakes in the open air, as to 

 render the bark too flexible for their purpose ; when 

 they remedy the defect by plastering the whole stick 

 with a sort of mortar that they make with clay ; so 

 that, on being struck, the form vanishes, and the arti- 

 ficial covering falls in fragments on the ground.. In 



D 



