M OF INSTINCT. SECT. XVf. i& 



fifts of flefh, fruits, and infers, which are perifha- 

 b!e commodities, he can lay up no provender for 

 the winter. 



M. de Loubiefe, in his relation of Siam, fays, 

 * c That in a part of that kingdom, which lies open 

 to great inundations, all the ants make their fcttle- 

 ments upon trees ; no ants' neiis are to be feen any 

 where elfe." Whereas in our country the ground 

 is their only fituation. From the fcriptural account 

 of thefe infects, one might be led to fufpect, that in 

 fome climates they lay up a provifion for the win- 

 ter. Origen affirms the fame, v (Cont. Celf. L. 4.^ 

 But it is generally believed that in this country they 

 do not, (Prov. vi. 6. xxx. 25.) The white ants of 

 the coaft of Africa make themfelves pyramids eight 

 or ten feet high, on a bafe of about the fame width, 

 with a fmooth furface of rich clay, exceflively hard 

 and well t^uilt, which appear at at a diftance like an 

 aifemblage of the huts of the negroes, (Adanfon.) 

 The hiftory of thefe has been lately well defcribed 

 in the Philofoph. Tranfaccions, under the name of 

 termes, or termites. Thefe differ very much from 

 the neft of our large ant ; but the real hiftory of 

 this creature, as well as of the wafp, is yet very 

 imperfectly known. 



Wafps are faid to catch large fpiders, and to cut 

 off their legs, and carry their mutilated bodies to 

 their young, Dicl. Raifon. Tom. I. p. 152. 



One circumllance I fhall relate which fell under 

 my own eye, and (hewed the power of reafon in a 

 wafp, as is it exercifed among men. A wafp, on 

 a gravel walk, had caught a fly nearly as large as 

 himfelf ; kneeling on the ground I obferved him 

 feparate the tail and the head from the body parr, 

 to which the wings were attached. He then took 

 the body part in his paws, and rofe about two feet 

 from the ground with it ; but a gentle breeze waft- 

 ing the wings of the fly turned him round in the 



