474 INSECTS. 



the earth, almost covered with grass and other plants ; and In the 

 dry season, when the herbage is burnt up by the rays of the sun, 

 it is not much unlike a very large hay-cock. 



Every one of these buildings consists of two distinct parts, the 

 exterior and the interior. The exterior is one large shell in the 

 manner of a dome, large and strong enough to inclose and shelter 

 the interior from the vicissitudes of the weather, and the inhabit- 

 ants from the attacks of natural or accidental enemies. It is 

 always, therefore, much stronger than the interior building, which 

 is the habitable part, divided with a wonderful kind of regularity 

 and contrivance, into an amazing number of apartments for the 

 residence of the king and queen, and the nursing of their nume- 

 rous progeny ; or for magazines, which are always found well 

 filled with stores and provisions. 



From these habitations, galleries again ascend, and lead out 

 horizontally on every side, and are carried under ground near to 

 the surface a vast distance; for if you destroy all the nests within 

 one hundred yards of your house, the inhabitants of those which 

 are left unmolested farther off, will nevertheless carry on their 

 subterraneous galleries, and invade the goods and merchandizes 

 contained in it by sap and mine, and do great mischief if you are 

 not very circumspect. 



It has been observed, that there are of every species of termites 

 three orders ; of these orders, the working insects or labourers are 

 always the most numerous ; in the termes bellicosus there seems to 

 he, at the least, one hundred labourers to one of the fighting in- 

 sects or soldiers. They are in this state about one-fourth of an 

 inch long, and twenty.fiye of them weigh about a grain ; so that 

 they are not so large as some of our ants. The second order, or 

 sokliers, have a very different form from the labourers, and have 

 been by some authors supposed to be the males, and the former 

 neuters ; but they are, in fact, the same insects, only they have 

 undergone a change of form, and approached one degree nearer to 

 the perfect state. They are now much larger, being half an inch 

 long, and equal in bulk to fifteen of the labourers. There is now 

 likewise a most remarkable circumstance in the form of the head 

 and mouth ; for in the former state, the mouth is evidently calcu- 

 lated for gnawing and holding bodies; but in this state, the jaws 

 being shaped just like two very sharp awls, a little jagged, they 



