DESTRUCTION BY ANTS. 43 



tended. Nor is this an inquiry unconnected with 

 the well-being of man, or far removed from his pur- 

 suits. When we are told that about seventy years 

 ago a species of ant appeared in the Island of Gre- 

 nada in such infinite hosts as to put a stop to the 

 cultivation of the sugar cane ; that the government 

 of the country offered a reward of twenty thousand 

 pounds to any person who shovJd discover an eflfect- 

 ual mode of destroying them ; and that many domestic 

 quadrupeds, together -ndth rats, mice, reptiles, and 

 even birds, fell a prey to their attacks, we very 

 naturally inquire by what means could an insect, so 

 insignificant, produce efi'ects so important ? * When 

 we read of locusts innumerable as flakes of snow, so 

 rapacious as to devour every green thing, and at- 

 tended in their progress by pestilence and famine, 

 we ask. With what instruments of destruction can 

 they be provided .'' How are they rendered capable 

 of exerting a power so terrific .■* A glance at the 

 formation of their mouths, and a moment's reflection 

 on their bodily powers, and the myriads which make 

 their appearance together, wUl solve the question. 



I shall not at present enter into any details of the 

 habits of different insects : these I reserve for descrip- 

 tion at some future time, talcen in connection with 

 the passages in which they are noticed by the Bard 

 * Kirby and Spence, vol. i. p. 182. 



