LETTER XVII. 



SOCIETIES OF INSECTS CONTINUED. 



PERFECT SOCIETIES. (White Ants and Ants.} 



THE associations of insects of which my last letter gave 

 you a detail, were of a very imperfect kind, both as to 

 their object and duration : but those which I am now to 

 lay before you exhibit the semblance of a nearer ap- 

 proach, both in their principle and its results, to the so- 

 cieties of man himself. There are two kindred senti- 

 ments, that in these last act with most powerful energy 

 desire and affection. From the first proceed many 

 wants that cannot be satisfied without the intercourse, 

 aid, and co-operation of others ; and by the last we are 

 impelled to seek the good of certain objects, and to de- 

 light in their society. Thus self-love combines with phi- 

 lanthropy to produce the social principle, both desire 

 and love alternately urging us to an intercourse with 

 each other ; and from these in union originate the mul- 

 tiplication and preservation of the species. These two 

 passions are the master-movers in this business; but 

 there is a third subsidiary to them, which, though it 

 trenches upon the social principle, considered abstract- 

 edly, is often a powerful bond of union in separate so- 

 cieties you will readily perceive that I am speaking of 

 fear; under the influence of this passion these are 



