44 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



anonymous author of the observations on the Termites 

 of Ceylon seems to have discovered a sentry-box in his 

 nests. " I found," says he, " in a very small cell in the 

 middle of the solid mass, (a cell about half an inch in 

 height, and very narrow,) a larva with an enormous 

 head. Two of these individuals were in the same cell : 

 one of the two seemed placed as sentinel at the en- 

 trance of the cell. I amused myself by forcing the door 

 two or three times ; the sentinel immediately appeared, 

 and only retreated when the door was on the point to 

 be stopped up, which was done in three minutes by the 

 labourers." 



I hope this account has reconciled you in some de- 

 gree to the destructive Termites : I shall next intro- 

 duce you to social insects, concerning most of which 

 you have probably conceived a more favourable opi- 

 nion ; I mean those which constitute the second class 

 of perfect societies, whose workers are not larvae, but 

 neuters. These all belong to the Hymenoptera order 

 of Linne : there are four kinds of insects in this order, 

 (which you will find as fertile in the instructors of man- 

 kind, as you have seen it to be in our benefactors,) that, 

 varying considerably from each other in their proceed- 

 ings as social animals, separately merit your attention : 

 namely, ants, wasps and hornets, humble-bees, and the 

 hive-bee. I begin with the first. 



Full of interesting traits as are the history and econo- 

 my of the white-ants, and however earnestly they may 

 induce you to wish you could be a spectator of them, 

 yet they scarcely exceed those of an industrious tribe of 

 insects, which are constantly passing under our eye. 



