460 SPANISH TOWN. 



making purposes, is not however the sole evil at- 

 tendant on their establishment in a cane-field. They 

 carry into the body of the stock which they perforate a 

 mass of pure earth, and add to the deteriorated juice 

 of the cane a quantity of absolute filth, that must 

 do incalculable mischief wherever only a single joint 

 of the plant they have contaminated is unfortunately 

 mixed with the sound and uninfected canes. 



" We are all familiar with the Tree Termite, the 

 Termes lucifugus, or white ant, that forms galleries 

 in the trunks of trees : we are also well acquainted 

 ■with the nest-building Termite, the Termes arhorum, 

 that constructs a large massy habitation in trees, and 

 contrives a covered way from the ground to the nest, 

 along the outside of branches, composed of small 

 pieces of gnawed wood cemented together with a 

 natural glue. Aversion to light is the common 

 character of the whole tribe. All the species are 

 not social, nor do they all exhibit the constructive 

 instinct. The solitary ones simply destroy the 

 bodies in which they take up their abode, and are 

 to be traced by their perforations in books, and in 

 closely packed and dry substances. Some of the 

 perforating Termites, as they gnaw away wood, fill 

 up the interstices with clay, tempered to an exceed- 

 ing degree of hardness. The internal part of the 

 timber perforated by this kind may be said to be 

 transformed from wood to stone. One species uses 

 red clay, another black earth, and a third woody 

 materials. They adopt expedients to secure them- 

 selves against the attacks of the tree ants, the For- 

 micidcB. As these would enter any breach of their 



