47S INSECTS. 



gone, or to examine what is the cause of the attack. He will 

 sometimes go in again, as if to give (he alarm ; but most frequently, 

 in a short time, is followed by a large body, who rush out as fast 

 as the breach will permit them ; and so they proceed, the number 

 increasing, as long as any one continues battering their building. 

 It is not easy to describe the rage and fury they shew. In their 

 hurry they frequently miss their hold, and tumble down the sides 

 of the hill, but recover themselves as quickly as possible; and, 

 being blind, bite every thing they run against, and thus make a 

 crackling noise ; while some of them beat repeatedly with their 

 forceps, upon the building, and make a small vibrating noise, 

 something shriller and quicker than the ticking of a watch. If 

 they get hold of any one, they will in an instant let out blood 

 enough to weigh against their whole body ; and if it is the leg they 

 wound, you will see the stain upon the stocking extend an inch in 

 width. They make their hooked jaws meet at the first stroke, and 

 never quit their hold, but suffer themselves to be pulled away leg 

 by leg, and piece after piece, without the least attempt to escape. 

 On the other hand, keep out of their way, and give them no 

 interruption, and they will in less than half an hour retire into 

 the nest, as if they supposed the wonderful monster that damaged 

 their castle to be gone beyond their reach. Before they are all 

 got in, you will see the labourers in motion, and hastening in vari- 

 ous directions toward the breach, every one with a burthen of 

 mortar in his mouth, ready- tempered. This they stick upon the 

 breach as fast as they come up, and do it with so much dispatch 

 and facility, that although there are thousands, or rather millions, 

 of them, they never stop or embarrass one another; and you are 

 most agreeably deceived, when, after an apparent scene of hurry 

 and confusion, a regular wall arises, gradually filling up the chasm. 

 While they are thus employed, almost all the soldiers are retired 

 quite out of sight. 



A renewal of the attack, however, instantly changes the scene. 

 At every stroke we hear a loud hiss ; and on the first the labourers 

 run into the many pipes and galleries with which the building is 

 perforated, which the)' do so quickly that they seem to vanish, for 

 in a few seconds all are gone, and the soldiers rush out as numerous 

 and as vindictive as before. 



Previously to breeding, a very surprising change takes place in 



