THE BEETLE. 



541 



to obtain, that every insect that lives a year 

 after it is come to its full growth, is obliged to 

 pass four or five months without taking any 

 nourishment, and will seem to be dead all that 

 time. It would be to no purpose, therefore, 

 for ants to lay up corn for the winter, since 

 they lie that time without motion, heaped upon 

 each other, and are so far from eating, that 

 they are utterly unable to stir. Thus, what 

 authors have dignified by the name of a maga- 

 zine, appears to be no more than a cavity, 

 which serves for a common retreat when the 

 weather forces them to return to their lethargic 

 state. 



What has been said with exaggeration of 

 the European ant, is however true, if asserted 

 of those of the tropical climates. They build 

 an ant-hill with great contrivance and regu- 

 larity, they lay up provisions, and as they pro- 

 bably live the whole year, they submit them- 

 selves to regulations entirely unknown among 

 the ants of Europe. 



Those of Africa are of three kinds, the red, 

 the green, and the black; the latter are above 

 an inch long, and in every respect a most for- 

 midable insect. Their sting produces extreme 

 pain, and their depredations are sometimes 

 extremely destructive. They build an ant-hill 

 of a very great size, from six to twelve feet 

 high ; it is made of viscous clay, and tapers 

 into a pyramidal form. This habitation is 

 constructed with great artifice ; and the cells 

 are so numerous and even, that a honey- 

 comb scarce exceeds them in number and re- 

 gularity. 



The inhabitants of this edifice seem to be 

 under a very strict regulation. At the slight- 

 est warning they will sally out upon whatever 

 disturbs them; and if they have time to arrest 

 their enemy, he is sure to find no mercy. 

 Sheep, hens, and even rats, are often destroyed 

 by these merciless insects, and their flesh de- 

 voured lo the bone. No anatomist in the 

 world can strip a skeleton so completely as 

 they; and no animal, how strong soever, when 

 they have once seized upon it, has power to 

 resist them. 



It often happens that these insects quit 

 their retreat in a body, and go in quest of ad- 

 ventures. " During my stay," says Smith, 

 " at Cape Coast Castle, a body of these ants 

 came to pay us a visit in our fortification. It 

 was about day-break when the advanced guard 

 of this famished crew entered the chapel, 

 where some negro servants were asleep upon 

 the floor. The men were quickly alarmed at 

 the invasion of this unexpected army, and pre- 

 pared, as well as they could, for a defence. 

 While the foremost battalion of insects had al- 

 ready taken possession of the place, the rear- 

 guard was more than a. quarter of a mile dis- 

 tant. The whole ground seemed alive, and 



crawling with unceasing destruction. After 

 deliberating a few moments upon what was 

 to be done, it was resolved to lay a large train 

 of gunpowder along the path they had taken: 

 by this means, millions were blown to pieces; 

 and the rear-guard perceiving the destruction 

 of their leaders, thought proper instantly to 

 return and make back to their original habi- 

 tation." 



The order which these ants observe, seems 

 very extraordinary; whenever they sally forth, 

 fifty or sixty larger than the rest are seen to 

 head the band, and conduct them to their des- 

 tined prey. If they have a fixed spot where 

 their prey continues to resort, they then form 

 a vaulted gallery, which is sometimes a quar- 

 ter of a mile in length ; and yet they will hol- 

 low it out in the space of ten or twelve hours. 



CHAP VI. 



OF THE BEETLE, AND ITS VARIETIES. 



HITHERTO we have been treating of insects 

 with four transparent wings, we now come to 

 a tribe with two transparent wings, with cases 

 that cover them close while at rest, but which 

 allow them their proper play when flying. 

 The principal of these are the Beetle, the 

 May-bug, and the Cantharis. These are all 

 bred like the rest of their order, first from 

 eggs, then they become grubs, then a chrysa- 

 lis, in which the parts of the future fly are dis- 

 tinctly seen ; and, lastly, the animal leaves its 

 prison, breaking forth as a winged animal in 

 full maturity. 



Of the Beetle there are various kinds ; all, 

 however, concurring in one common formation 

 of having cases to their wings, which are the 

 more necessary to those insects, as they often 

 live under the surface of the earth, in holes 

 which they dig out by their own industry. 

 These cases prevent the various injuries their 

 real wings might sustain, by rubbing or 

 crushing against the sides of their abode 

 These, though they do not assist flight yet 

 keep the internal wings clean and even, and 

 produce a loud buzzing noise when the animal 

 rises in the air. 



If we examine the formation of all animals 

 of the beetle kind, we shall find, as in shell- 

 fish, that their bones are placed externally and 

 their muscles within. These muscles are 

 formed very much like those of quadrupeds, 

 and are endued with such surprising strength, 

 that, bulk for bulk, they are a thousand times 

 stronger than those of a man. The strength 

 of these muscles is of use in digging the ani- 

 mal's subterraneous abode, where it is most 

 usually hatched, and to which it most fro- 



