946 
There is now, likewise, a most re- 
markable circumstance in the form 
of the head and mouth; for, in the 
former state, the mouth is evidently 
calculated fv gnawing and -holding 
bodies, but in “this state, the jaws 
being shaped just like two very 
sharp aw!s, a liitie jagged, they are 
incapable of,any thing but piercing 
or wounding, tor which purposes 
they are very effectual, being as hard 
as a crab’s claw, and placed ina 
strong horny head, which is of a 
nut brown colour, and larger than 
all the rest of the body together, 
which seems to labour under great 
difficulty in carrying it> on which 
account, perhaps, the ammal is 1n- 
capable of climbing up perpendicu- 
lar surfaces. m 
The third order, or the insect in 
its perfect state, varies its form still 
more than ever. The head, thorax, 
and abdomen, differ almost entirely 
{rom the same parts in the labourers 
and soldiers; and, besides this, the 
avimal is ndw furnished with four 
fine large, brownish, transparent 
wings, with which it is at the same 
time of emanation to wing its way In 
search of a new settlement. In 
short, it differs so much from its 
form and appearance in the other 
_ two states, that it has never been 
supposed to be the same animal, but 
by those who have seen it in the 
same nest; and some of these have 
distrusted the evidence of their 
senses. I: was so Jong before I met 
with them in the nests myself, that I 
doubted the iifurmation which was 
given me by the natives, that they 
belonged to the same family. Lo- 
deed, we ma) open twenty nests 
with vut finding one winged one, for 
those are to be found only just be- 
fore the commencement of the rainy 
season, when they undergo the last 
ANNUAL REGISTER; 1806. 
change, which is preparative to their 
colonization, Add to this, they 
sometimes abandon an outward part 
of their building, the eommuuity 
being diminished by some accident, 
to me unknown. Sometimes too, 
different species of the real ant 
(formica) possess themselves by force 
of a lodgment, and sv are frequently 
dislodged from the same nest, and 
taken for the same kind of insects. 
This, | know, is often the case with 
the nests of the smaller species, 
which are frequently totally aban- 
doned by the termites, and com. . 
pletely inhabited by different species 
of ants, cock-roaches, scolopendra, 
scorpions, and other vermin, fond 
of obscure retreats, that occupy dif- 
ferent parts of their roomy build. 
ngs. J : ; 
In the winged state they have also 
much altered their size as well as 
form. Their bodies now measure 
between six and seven tenths of an 
inch in length, and their wings above 
two inches and a half from tip to tip, 
and they are equal in bulk to about 
thirty labourers, or two soldiers. 
They aie now also furnished with 
two large eyes, placed on each side 
of the head, and very conspicuous ; 
if they have any before, they are not 
easily to be distinguished. Probably 
in the two first states their eyes, if 
they have any, may be small lke 
those of moles ; for as they live like 
those animals, always under ground, — 
they have as little occasion for these 
organs, and It is not to be wondered © 
at that we do not discover them; — 
but the case is much altered when 
they arrive at the winged state in © 
which they are to roam, though but — 
for a few hours, through the wide 
air, and explore new and distant 
regions. In this form the animal 
comes abroad, during, or soon — 
after 
37a 
