6gO PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1790. 



their nests under cover, and out of its reach, and the breeding ants, with their 

 young progeny, must have remained unhurt. 



Mr. Smeathman, who wrote a paper on the termites, or white ants, of Africa, 

 and was at Grenada at this time, imagined that these ants were not the cause of 

 the injury done to the canes. He supposed it was owing to the blast, a disease 

 the canes are subject to, said to arise from a species of small flies, generated on 

 their stems and leaves; and that the ants were attracted in such multitudes merely 

 to feed on them. There is no doubt, that where this blast existed, it constituted 

 part of the food of the ants; but this theory was overthrown, by observing, that 

 by far the greatest part of the injured canes had no appearance of that sort, but 

 became sickly and withered, apparently for want of nourishment. Besides, had 

 that been the case, the canes must have been benefited instead of being hurt by 

 these insects. For the cure of the blast, he proposed the application of train 

 oil, which had not the least effect in preventing the mischief, and, if it had, 

 could never have been generally enough used to answer the purpose. 



This calamity, which resisted so long the efforts of the planters, was at length 

 removed by another, which, however ruinous to the other islands in the West 

 Indies, and in other respects, was to Grenada a very great blessing, namely, the 

 hurricane in 1780; without which it is probable the cultivation of the sugar-cane 

 in the most valuable parts of that island must have in a great measure been 

 thrown aside, at least for some years. How this hurricane produced this effect 

 has been considered rather as a matter of wonder and surprise than attempted to 

 be explained. By attending to the following observations, the difficulty will pro- 

 bably be removed. 



These ants make their nests, or cells for the reception cf their eggs, only 

 under or among the roots of such trees or plants as are not only capable of pro- 

 tecting them from heavy rains, but are at the same time so firm in the ground 

 as to afford a secure basis to support them against any injury occasioned by the 

 agitation of the usual winds. This double qualification the sugar-cane possesses 

 in a very great degree; for a stool of canes, which is the assemblage of its nume- 

 rous roots where the stems begin to shoot out, is almost impenetrable to rain, 

 and is also, from the amazing numbers and extension of the roots, firmly fixed 

 to the ground. Thus, when every other part of the field is drenched with rain, 

 the ground under those stools will be found quite dry, hence, in ordinary wea- 

 ther, their nests are in a state of perfect security. The lime, lemon, orange, 

 and some other trees, afford these insects the same advantages, from the great 

 number and quality of their roots, which are firmly fixed to the earth, and are 

 very large; besides which, their tops are so very thick and umbrageous as to pre- 

 vent even a very heavy rain from reaching the ground underneath. 



On the contrary, these ants' nests are never found at the roots of trees or 



