23O NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Numerous, but their enemies more so. 



sure near three quarters of an inch in length, 

 their wings, from tip to tip, above two inches 

 and a half, and their bulk is equal to that of 

 thirty labourers, or two soldiers. Instead of ac- 

 tive, industrious, and rapacious little animals, 

 when they arrive at their perfect state, they be- 

 come innocent, helpless, and dastardly. Their 

 numbers are great, but their enemies are still 

 more numerous : they are devoured by birds, by 

 every species of ants, by carnivorous reptiles, 

 and even by the inhabitants of many parts of 

 Africa. After such devastation it seems surpris- 

 ing that even a single pair should escape. Some, 

 however, are so fortunate, and being found by 

 some of the labouring insects, that are continu- 

 ally running about the surface of the ground 

 under their covered galleries, are elected kings 

 and queens of new states ; all those which are 

 not so elected and preserved, certainly perish. 

 The manner in which these labourers protect the 

 happy pair from their innumerable enemies, not 

 only on the day of the massacre of almost all 

 their race, but for a long time after, will, (conti- 

 tinues Mr. Smeathman) justify me in the use of 

 the term election. The little industrious crea- 

 tures immediately inclose them in a small cham- 

 ber of clay suitable to their size, into which at 

 first they have but one entrance, large enough 

 for themselves and the soldiers to go in and out 

 at, but much too little for either of the royal pair 

 to use; and, when necessity obliges them to 



