342 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



above the soil. For the same reason their habits 

 and internal economy are very little known ; but it 

 is only too easy to discover in our indigenous Ter- 

 mites the same destructive instincts which are pos- 

 sessed by their exotic brethren. In Sardinia, Spain, 

 and the South of France, the species known as the 

 flavicollis attacks the olives and other valuable trees, 

 while in the Gironde and the Landes the T. luci- 

 fugus devours the oaks and fir trees. Here we are 

 led to ask if it is one of these two species which, 

 renouncing a country life and accommodating itself 

 to our towns, is at present exercising its ravages at 

 La Rochelle, Eochefort, Saintes, and the neighbour- 

 ing districts ? It must be admitted that, notwith- 

 standing the affirmative reply that has been given 

 by some of our most distinguished entomologists, 

 the question seems to us at all events very doubtful. 

 Latreille, who was one of the founders of modern 

 entomology, informs us that the T. lucifugus of the 

 neighbourhood of Bordeaux reaches the condition 

 of a perfect insect, acquires wings, and emigrates in 

 the course of the month of June. On the other 

 hand, a much less celebrated observer, but one who 

 studied the Termites of Rochefort on the spot for 

 nearly half a century, affirms that in that town their 

 emigration takes place in the month of March, and 

 that when that epoch is passed there is not a winged 

 Termite to be seen.* Those who are acquainted 

 with the precision of the laws which regulate the 

 development of organised beings, will consider that 



* Memoire sur les Termites observes a Rochefort, by M. Bobe- 

 Moreau. Saintes, 1843. 



