WHITE ANT. 473 



generally the common parents of the whole, or greater part, of 

 the rest) ; and of three orders of insects, apparently of very dif- 

 ferent species, but really the same, which together compose great 

 commonwealths, or rather monarchies, if we may be allowed the 

 term. 



The different species of this genus resemble each other in form, 

 in thf ir manner of living, and in their good and bad qualities ; but 

 differ as much as birds, in the manner of building their habitations 

 or nests, and in the choice of the materials of which they compose 

 them. 



There are some species which build upon the surface of the 

 ground, or part above and part beneath ; and one or two species, 

 perhaps more, that build on the stems or branches of trees, some- 

 times aloft at a vast height. 



Of every species there are three orders; first, the working 

 insects, which, for brevity, we shall generally call labourers; next 

 the fighting ones, or soldiers, which do no kind of labour ; and, 

 last of all, the winged ones, or perfect insects, which are male 

 and female, and capable of propagating. 



The nests of the termes bellicosus are so numerous all over the 

 island of Bananas, and the adjacent continent of Africa, that it is 

 scarcely possible to stand upon any open place, such as a rice- 

 plantation, or other clear spot, where one of these buildings is 

 not to be seen within fifty paces, and frequently two or three are 

 to be seen almost close to each other. In some parts near Senegal, 

 as mentioned by Monsieur Adanson, their number, magnitude, 

 and closeness of situation, make them appear like the villages of 

 the natives. 



These buildings are usually termed hills, by natives as well as 

 strangers, from their outward appearance, which is that of little 

 hills more or less conical, generally pretty much in the form of 

 sugar.loaves, and about ten or twelve feet in perpendicular height 

 above the common surface of the ground. 



These hills continue quite bare until they are six or eight feet 

 high ; but in time the dead barren clay, of which they are com- 

 posed, becomes fertilized by the genial power of the elements in 

 these prolific climates, and the addition of vegetable and other 

 matters brought by the wind ; and in the second or third year the 

 hillock, if not over-shaded by trees, becomes, like the rest of 



