﻿42.— 
  KCENIG'S 
  PAPER 
  ON 
  SOUTH 
  INDIAN 
  TERMITES. 
  

  

  (Plates 
  LII— 
  LV). 
  

  

  By 
  T. 
  Bainbeigge 
  Fletcher, 
  R.N., 
  F.L.S., 
  F.E.S., 
  F.Z.S., 
  Imperial 
  

  

  Entomologist. 
  

  

  Introduction. 
  

  

  It 
  is 
  difficult 
  to 
  imagine 
  what 
  the 
  writers 
  of 
  popular 
  works 
  on 
  Natural 
  

   History, 
  until 
  quite 
  recently, 
  would 
  have 
  found 
  to 
  say 
  about 
  the 
  insects 
  

   popularly 
  called 
  " 
  White 
  Ants 
  " 
  if 
  they 
  had 
  not 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  draw 
  upon 
  

   the 
  information 
  furnished 
  to 
  them 
  by 
  Smeathman. 
  " 
  Some 
  account 
  of 
  

   the 
  Termites 
  which 
  are 
  found 
  in 
  Africa 
  and 
  other 
  hot 
  climates," 
  written 
  

   by 
  H. 
  Smeathman 
  from 
  his 
  own 
  observations 
  in 
  the 
  neighbourhood 
  of 
  

   Sierra 
  Leone 
  in 
  West 
  Africa, 
  was 
  published 
  in 
  the 
  Philosophical 
  Transac- 
  

   tion 
  of 
  the 
  Royal 
  Society 
  of 
  London 
  in 
  the 
  year 
  1781, 
  and 
  for 
  over 
  a 
  

   century 
  formed 
  practically 
  the 
  only 
  known 
  and 
  tolerably 
  complete 
  

   account 
  of 
  the 
  habits 
  of 
  the 
  wonderful 
  insects 
  known 
  as 
  Termites 
  or 
  

   White 
  Ants. 
  Smeathman's 
  statements 
  were 
  copied 
  and 
  recopied 
  by 
  

   one 
  author 
  after 
  another 
  until 
  it 
  becomes 
  a 
  matter 
  at 
  once 
  of 
  amusement 
  

   and 
  monotony 
  to 
  compare 
  the 
  several 
  authors' 
  accounts 
  with 
  their 
  

   original 
  inspiration. 
  

  

  Many 
  of 
  Smeathman's 
  statements 
  were 
  challenged 
  as 
  to 
  their 
  accuracy 
  

   by 
  his 
  contemporaries 
  and 
  their 
  successors 
  during 
  the 
  next 
  two 
  genera- 
  

   tions 
  until 
  T. 
  Savage 
  published 
  in 
  1849 
  his 
  " 
  Observations 
  on 
  the 
  Species 
  

   of 
  Termitida3 
  of 
  West 
  Africa 
  described 
  by 
  Smeathman," 
  which 
  thoroughly 
  

   corroborated 
  the 
  observations 
  made 
  in 
  the 
  eighteenth 
  century. 
  

  

  Yet, 
  although 
  Smeathman's 
  observations 
  have 
  been 
  claimed 
  as 
  the 
  

   very 
  foundation 
  of 
  the 
  study 
  of 
  Termites, 
  it 
  is 
  a 
  fact 
  (hitherto 
  usually 
  

   overlooked) 
  that 
  he 
  was 
  not 
  the 
  first 
  to 
  publish 
  a 
  scries 
  of 
  scientific 
  

   observations 
  on 
  these 
  insects. 
  That 
  honour 
  had 
  already 
  been 
  achieved 
  

   by 
  Dr. 
  Johann 
  Gerhard 
  Koenig, 
  w^ho 
  two 
  years 
  previously 
  (in 
  1779) 
  had 
  

   published 
  a 
  paper 
  entitled 
  " 
  Naturgeschichte 
  der 
  sogenannten 
  Weissen 
  

   Ameisen 
  " 
  [ 
  Natural 
  History 
  of 
  the 
  so-called 
  White 
  Ants] 
  in 
  the 
  fourth 
  

   volume 
  of 
  the 
  " 
  Beschaftigungen 
  der 
  Berlinischen 
  Gesellschaft 
  Naturfor- 
  

   schender 
  Freunde." 
  Let 
  us 
  hasten 
  to 
  add 
  that 
  Smeathman's 
  investiga- 
  

   tions 
  were 
  carried 
  out 
  entirely 
  independently 
  of 
  Koenig's 
  and 
  that 
  he 
  

   tells 
  us 
  expressly 
  that 
  he 
  had 
  not 
  been 
  able 
  to 
  procure 
  a 
  copy 
  of 
  the 
  

   latter's 
  paper 
  and 
  had 
  seen 
  nothing 
  of 
  it 
  beyond 
  a 
  short 
  abstract. 
  

  

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  312 
  ) 
  

  

  