242 THE TROPICAL WORLD. 



the wall, not suspended in frames as be left them, but completely 

 surrounded by an incrustation cemented by the white ants, who 

 had actually eaten up the deal frames and backboards and tlie 

 greater part of the paper, and left the glasses upheld by the 

 incrustation or covered way which they had formed during their 

 depredations. 



On the small island of Goree, near Cape Verde, the French 

 naturalist, Adanson, lived in a straw hut, which, though quite 

 new at the time he took up his residence in it, became trans- 

 parent in many places before the month was out. This might 

 have been endured, but the villanous termites ravaged his 

 trunk, destroyed his books, penetrated into his bed, and at 

 last attacked the naturalist himself. Neither sweet nor salt 

 water, neither vinegar nor corrosive liquids, were able to drive 

 them away, and so Adanson thought it best to abandon the 

 premises, and to look out for another lodging. 



The ravages of the termites are, however, perhaps more than 

 compensated by their services in removing decayed vegetable 

 substances from the face of the earth, and thus contributing to 

 the purity of the air and the beauty of the landscape. If the 

 forests of the tropical world, where thousands of gigantic trees 

 succumb to the slow ravages of time, or are suddenly prostrated 

 by the hurricane, still appear in all the verdure of perpetual 

 youth, it is chiefly to the unremitting labours of the termites 

 that they are indebted for their freshness. 



Though belonging to a different order of the insect world, 

 the economy of the termites is very similar to that of the real 

 ants. They also form communities, divided into distinct 

 orders ; labourers (larvae), soldiers (neuters), perfect insects — 

 and they also erect buildings, but of a far more astonishing 

 structure. Several of their species (T. atrox, bellicosus Smeath- 

 man) erect high dome-like edifices, rising from the plain, so 

 that at first sight they might be mistaken for the hamlets of 

 the negroes; others (T. destructor arborum) build on trees, 

 often at a considerable height above the ground. These sylvan 

 abodes are frequently the size of a hogshead, and are more 

 generally found in the New World. 



The clay-built citadels or domes of the Termes bellicosus, a 

 common species on the West Coast of Africa, attain a height of 

 twelve feet, and are constructed with such strength that the 

 traveller often ascends them to have an uninterrupted view of 



