OF NATURAL HISTORY. S65 



oeconomy and manners. We fliall confine ourfelves to that 

 fpecies called termites hellicofi^ or fighters becaufe they are larg- 

 eft, and befl known on the coall: of Africa. 



The republic of tbe termites bellitofi, Hke the other fpecies 

 of this genus, confifts of three ranks, or orders of infedls : 

 1. The working in fetfls, which Mr. Smeathman diftinguifhes 

 by the name or labourers ; 2. The fighters, or yc^AZ/Vrj-, which 

 perform no kind of labour ; and, 3. The winged, or perfect 

 infects^ which are male and female, and capable of multiply- 

 ing the fpecies. Thefe lafl Mr. Smeathman calls the nobility 

 or gentry ; becaufe they neither labour nor fight. The no- 

 bility alone are capable of being raifed to the rank of kings 

 and queens. A few weeks after their elevation to this ftate, 

 they emigrate, in order to eftablifh new empires. 



In a neft or hill, the labourers, or working infciSts, are al- 

 ways mofl numerous : There are at leaft one hundred labour- 

 ers to one of the fighting infects or foldiers. When in this 

 ftate, they are about a fourth of an inch in length, which is 

 rather fmaller than fome of our ants. From their figure, and 

 fondnefs for wood, they are very generally known by the 

 name of luood-liee. 



The fecond order, or foldiers, differ in figure from that 

 of the labourers. The former have been fuppofed to be 

 neuters, and the latter males. But, in faft, they are the 

 fame infedls. They have only undergone a change of form, 

 -and made a nearer approach to the perfedl ftate. They are 

 now much larger, being half an inch in length, and equal in 

 fize to fifteen of the labourers. The form of the head is 

 likewife greatly changed. In the labourer ftate, the mouth 

 is evidently formed for gnawing or holding bodies : But, in 

 the foldier ftate, the jaws being fhaped like two ftiarp awls 

 a little jagged, are deftined folely for piercing or wounding. 

 For thefe purpofes they are very well calculated ; for they 

 are as hard as a crab's claw, and placed in a ftrong liorny 

 . X X 



