WHITE ANTS. 291 



reason to distrust so excellent a naturalist, in de- 

 scribing what he saw, it is certain that they more 

 commonly eat their way into the interior of the wood, 

 and afterwards tbrm the galleries, when tliey find 

 that they have destroyed the wood till it will no 

 longer afford them protection. 



But it is time that we should come to their prin- 

 cipal building, which may, with some propriety, be 

 called a city; and, according to the method we have 

 followed in other instances, we shall trace their la- 

 bours from the commencement. We shall begin 

 with the operations of the species which may be ap- 

 propriately termed the Warrior ( Termes fatalis, 

 Linn.; T. BelUcosus, Smeath.). 



We must premise, that though they have been 

 termed white ants, they do not belong to the same 

 order of insects with our ants; yet they have a 

 slight resemblance to ants in their form, but more 

 in their economy. Smeathman, to whom we owe 

 our chief knowledge of the genus, describes them as 

 consisting of kings, queens, soldiers, and workers, 

 and is of opinion, that the workers are larvae, the 

 soldiers nymphae, and the kings and queens the per- 

 fect ins*^cts. In this opinion, he coincides with 

 Sparrmann* and others; but Latreille is inclined 



* Q,uoted by dc Geev, vol. vii. 



