1552 THE STORY OF THE UNIVERSE 



to the boa of the New World), is found in the 

 swamps and morasses of the western coast, and some 

 species of the cobra (or hooded snake) occur 

 chiefly in Southern Africa and on the shores of 

 Guinea. Insects abound, both in species and as in- 

 dividuals; among them is the locust, which at inter- 

 vals ravages all the northern parts of the continent. 

 But the termites, or white ants, of Western Africa 

 are the most celebrated members of the insect family, 

 and effect the most extraordinary destruction of fur- 

 niture, books, clothes, food, and everything that 

 comes in their way. They build pyramidal or con- 

 ical nests, firmly cemented together, and divided 

 into several apartments so large that at first sight 

 they appear in the distance like the villages of the 

 natives. Both the bee and the wasp are numerously 

 distributed, but the bee has not been domesticated by 

 any of the native people of this continent ; it is, how- 

 ever, reared by the Arabs in Northern Africa. 



The New World exhibits, through its vast pro- 

 longation in the direction of latitude, a development 

 of animal life which is almost infinitely varied, and 

 which differs in many essential regards from that be- 

 longing to either of the continents of the Eastern 

 Hemisphere. Each of the nine orders of Mammalia 

 is represented within its limits, but many of the most 

 attractive and valuable members of the animal life 

 of Asia and Africa are nevertheless wanting. Amer- 

 ica has neither the elephant nor the camel; and 

 neither the horse, the ox, the sheep, nor the hog is 

 indigenous to it. 



The Carnivora of the New World are inferior in 



