45^ THE WHITE ANTS. 



and South America, where their depredations are 

 greatly dreaded by the inhabitants. Mr. Smeath- 

 inan, whose account of them occupies above fifty 

 pages in the seventy-first volume of the Philosophi- 

 cal Transactions, says that they are naturally divided 

 into three orders: 1. The working insects, which 

 he distinguishes by the name of labourers ; 2. The 

 fighters or soldiers, which perform no other labour 

 than such as is necessary in defence of the nests - y 

 and, 3. The winged or perfect insects, which are 

 male and female, and capable of multiplying the 

 species. These last he calls the nobility or gentry - y 

 because they neither labour nor fight. 



In their nest or hill, for they build on the surface 

 of the ground, the labourers are always the most nu- 

 merous. There are at least a hundred labourers to 

 one of the fishtincr insects or soldiers. When in this 

 state, they are about a fourth of an inch in length ; 

 which is rather smaller than some of our ants. 



The second order, or soldiers, differ in figure from 

 the labourers. These appear to be such insects as 

 have undergone one change toward their perfect 

 state. They are now near half an inch in length, 

 and equal in size to about fifteen of the labourers. 

 The form of the head is likewise greatly changed. 

 In the labourer state, the mouth is evidently formed 

 for gnawing, or for holding bodies ; but, in the 

 soldier state, the jaws, being shaped like two sharp 

 awls a little jagged, are destined solely for piercing 

 or wounding. Fur these purposes they are well cal- 

 « ulated i being as hard a^ a crab's claw, and placed 



