^ INSECTS. 357 



many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and be- 

 hind them a flame bumeth : the land is as the Garden of 

 Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness ; 

 yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of 

 them is as the appearance of horses ; and as horsemen, so 

 shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of 

 mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire 

 that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle- 

 array." " The earth shall quake before them ; the heavens 

 shall tremble : the sun and moon shall be dark, and the 

 stars shall withdraw their shining." " How do the beasts 

 groan ! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have 

 no pasture ; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate." 



One of the most formidable of the insect tribes of this 

 continent is the Termes bellicosus, or white ant. This spe- 

 cies dwells in congregated troops, consisting of labourers, 

 soldiers, and sovereigns. They build conical nests of mud 

 and clay, from 10 to 12 feet high, and divided in the interi'f 

 by thin partitions into a variety of cells. These nests aiv, 

 often veiy numerous, and appear like villages from a dis- 

 tance. Jobson, in his History of Guinea, alleges that they 

 are often 20 feet high, and he states that he found them 

 extremely serviceable in screening himself and his com- 

 panions while engaged in the pursuit of antelopes and other 

 wild game. The queen-mother of this species becomes in 

 the pregnant state of so enormous a size, that her abdomen 

 exceeds by two thousand times the bulk of the rest of her 

 body. When the ova are fully formed, they are obtruded 

 at the rate of 60 in a minute, or upwards of 80,000 in 24 

 hours. 



Of the butterfly tribe, of course, many beautiful species 

 inhabit this far-spread continent ; but as little is known of 

 their habits and history, and we would seek in vain to ex- 

 press by words the splendid colours, the elegant and varied 

 forms, and the exquisite pencilling by which they are 

 adorned, we shall not here enumerate any of the African 

 species ; 



"Nameless in dark oblivion they must dwell," 



except in the minds of those who have studied their gorgeous 

 hues in the illumined pages of natural history, or in those far 



