3Q TERMES BELLICOSUS. 



little creature may be^ its general use cannot be 

 doubted. Its depredations on the labours of man 

 may be called accidental^ and are the result of its 

 propensities^ to promote the good of the whole. 



It is time to describe its figure, and the instincts 

 with which it is endowed for the purposes of its own 

 preservation. These creatures have received the 

 name of white ants, from their colour when first hatch- 

 ed, and the similarity of their habits to the common 

 ant ; though they greatly excel it in their structures 

 and internal policy. 



They live in communities, and build nests different 

 in form, situation, and colour, according to the re- 

 spective species. Mr. Smeathman, from whom this 

 account is borrowed, has chosen the tennes bellicosus, 

 as being the largest and most easily observed, for the 

 object of his particular description. The nests of this 

 species are so numerous, that, in some parts, they are 

 scarcely fifty yards separate, and of such magnitude 

 that they might be mistaken for a village of the 

 natives. They resemble a sugar-loaf in shape, and 

 rise from ten to twelve feet perpendicularly above 

 the ground: the outside shell may be compared 

 to a dome, which encloses, and defends from the in- 

 juries of the weather, the interior of the building, 

 which is curiously divided into apartments for differ- 

 ent purposes, that will be better understood when the 



