NATURAL HISTORY. 
and are of dispositions bold, active, 
atid rapacious. Whenever the 
termites are dislodged from their 
covered ways, the various species of 
the former, who probably are as 
Numerous above ground, as the lat- 
ter are in their subterraneous pas- 
sages, instantly seize and drag them 
away to their nests, to feed the young 
brood. The termites are, therefore, 
exceeding solicitous about the pre- 
Serving their covered ways in good 
repair ; and if you demolish one of 
them, for a few inches in length, it 
is wonderful how soon they rebuild 
it. At first, in their hurry, they 
get into the open part an inch or 
two, but stop so suddenly, that it is 
very apparent they are surprised ; 
for, though some run straight on, 
and get under the arch as speedily 
as possible in the former part, most 
of them run as fast back, and very 
few will yenture through that part of 
the track which is left uncovered. 
In a few minutes you will perceive 
them re-building the arch, and by 
the next morning they will have 
restored their gallery, for three or 
four yards in length, if so much has 
been ruined; and upon opening it 
again will be found as numerous as 
“ever, under it, passing both ways. 
Tf you continue to destroy it several 
times, they will at ngth seem to 
give up the point, and build another 
in a different direction; but, if the 
old one Jed to some favourite plun- 
der, in a few days will rebuild it 
again; and, unless you destroy 
their nest, never totally abandon 
their gallery. 
_ ‘The lermites arborum, those which 
build in trees, frequently establish 
their nests within the roofs of houses, 
to which they do considerable da- 
mage, if not timely extirpated. 
The large species are, however, 
949 
not only much more destructive, but 
more difficult to be guarded against, 
since they make their approaches 
chiefly under ground, descending 
below the foundations of houses and 
stores, at several feet from the sur- 
face, and rising again either in the 
floors, or entering at the bottoms of 
the posts, of which the sides of these 
buildings are composed, bore quite 
through them, following the course 
of the fibres to the top, or making 
lateral perforations and cavities here 
and there as they proceed. 
While some are employed in 
gutling the posts, others ascend 
from them, entering a rafter, or 
some other partofithe roof. Ifthey 
once find the thatch, which seems to 
be a favourile food, they soon bring 
up wet clay, and build their pipes 
or galleries through the roof, in 
various directions, as long as it will 
support them; sometimes eating the 
palm tree leaves aud branches, of 
which it is composed ; and, perhaps, 
(for variety seems very pleasing to 
them), the rattan, or other running 
plant, which is used as acord to tie 
the various parts of the roof together, 
and that to the posts which support 
it; thus, with the assistance of the 
rats, who, during the rainy season, 
are apt to shelter themselves there, 
and to burrow through it, they very 
soon ruin the house, by weakening 
the fastenings, and exposing it to the 
wet. In the mean time the posts 
will be perforated in every direction, 
as full of holes as that timber in the 
bottom of ships, which has been 
bored by the worms; the fibres and 
knotty parts, which are the hardest, 
being left to the last. 
They sometimes, in carrying on 
this business, find, I will not pretend 
to say how, that the post has some 
weight to support, and then, if it is 
3P3 a con= 
