119 



but their peculiar skill is to be admired in disabling 

 them, either by bite or sting, so as not to kill them ; 

 for then they would soon putrefy, and be unfit for 

 nourishment. Life sufficient is left to preserve them 

 for the time the maggot is to feed upon them. The 

 sting of this wasp is painful, but dees not swell like 

 others. 



The Female, or Queen of the Termites, or White 

 Ant (Termes Fatale). 



Mr. Smeathman, who resided many years in 

 Africa, has, in the 71st volume of the Philosophical 

 Transactions, given a beautiful and interesting ac- 

 count of the manners, instinct, and wonderful eco- 

 nomy of these extraordinary animals, which, from 

 their immense number, and power of annoyance, are 

 the greatest pest of that country. — To detail the 

 whole of their habits and mode of life would require 

 a volume : the instinct of the Common Ant, the Bee, 

 or the Beaver, are trifling when compared with these. 

 Though little larger than the Common Ant, their 

 buildings, from the number, closeness, and magnitude, 

 often appear like the villages of the natives ; and 

 the depredations they commit render them truly for- 

 midable : nothing but metal or glass can escape the 

 destroying fangs of these minute invadets. The one 

 in this collection is a pregnant Queen, the general 

 mother of the whole community, and is a thousand 

 times heavier than the male, or King, who is conside- 

 rably larger than the labourer or soldier. — Mr. 

 Smeathman's description of this Ant has been copied 

 in Dr. Winterbot ham's Account of Sierra Leone, and 

 the 2d volume <3f Wood's Zoography, page 446. 

 A model of the Nest of these remarkable insects, 

 nine feet high, is in the Pantherion. 



The Bird-catching, or Great Surinam Spider (Ara- 

 nea Avecularia). 



