THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 353 



MM. Fleuriau and Sauve have also attempted 

 to destroy the colony that has established itself at 

 the Prefecture of La Rochelle. After having tried 

 various methods, but without success, they thought 

 of calling to their assistance the aid of auxiliaries, 

 and of employing Ants to combat the Termites. The 

 application of this ingenious idea would certainly 

 have been attended with some inconveniences, for one 

 destructive insect would only have replaced another ; 

 but still the remedy would have been much better 

 than the evil, and it is to be regretted that the at- 

 tempts of the Rochellais savants were not attended 

 with success. They intermingled in one bowl a 

 nearly equal number of these two species of insects. 

 A battle commenced forthwith, and it was soon easy 

 to foresee the issue of it. The Termites inflicted the 

 deepest wounds, and the soldiers, with a single stroke 

 of their terrible forceps, cut the Ants in two, as with 

 shears. In a little while they were exterminated, 

 whilst the Termites at first counted only a very small 

 number of dead. On the next day, however, nearly 

 one half perished, having very probably been de- 

 stroyed by the acid which the Ants secrete, and 

 which had poisoned even the smallest wounds. 



Notwithstanding the many failures of my pre- 

 decessors, I entertained strong hopes of successfully 



more especially to botany, with a zeal which is very seldom dis- 

 played by women, has announced to the Society of Natural History 

 at La Rochelle, of which she is a corresponding member, that she 

 has succeeded by this method in driving the Termites from her 

 garden. Madame George regards the Termite which has invaded 

 her premises as the Termes nasutus of Jamaica, but this determination 

 requires to be further confirmed. 

 VOL. II. A A 



