324 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



perform distinct functions. The singular habits of 

 these insects, which render them so formidable, have 

 given rise to many fables. It is probable that the 

 Termites are those ants which according to Herodotus 

 inhabited the country of the Bactrians, and which, 

 smaller than a dog, although larger than a fox, 

 devoured a pound of meat each day. Living in remote 

 sandy deserts, these gigantic insects dug subterranean 

 habitations, and raised up hills of golden sand which 

 the Indians carried away at the peril of their lives. 

 According to his usual custom, Pliny endeavoured 

 to make this marvellous history still more wonderful, 

 by adding that the horns of these ants might still be 

 seen in the temple of Hercules. Almost in our own 

 day even, and when the Termites were tolerably 

 well known, some travellers have apparently found 

 it difficult to content themselves with facts, although 

 these are certainly curious enough of themselves. It 

 has for instance been stated that these insects possess 

 so active a poison, that merely to respire the emana- 

 tions proceeding from them was sufficient to produce 

 death, and that a single bite excited a mortal fever. 

 An English naturalist, Smeathman, has thoroughly 

 analysed these narratives, and the facts which he 

 gives us in relation to the exotic species, are not less 

 marvellous than the errors propagated by his prede- 

 cessors.* This, however, is a result which very often 

 occurs, for, in respect to the marvellous, nature almost 

 always exceeds all that has been devised by human 

 imagination. 



* Some Account of the Termites which are found in Africa and 

 other Climates (Philosophical Transactions) 1781). 



