OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



3S9 



deftilute of ftings, but the females and neuters have ftings, the poi- 

 fonous liquor of which, when introduced into any part of the hu- 

 man body, excites inflammation, and creates a confiderable degree, 

 of pain. 



The habitations and the oeconomy of the common ant are ex- 

 ceedingly curious. But, as they are fo well known, and fo obvious- 

 to infpedion and examination, we fhall not detain the reader with 3^ 

 defcription of them. To fupply this defed, we fhall give fome ac- 

 count of the truly wonderful operations of the termites, which are 

 generally called ivhite-ants *, though they belong to a different ge- 

 nus of infedls. Thefe animals infeft Guinea, and all the tropical 

 regions, where, for their depredations of property, they are greatly 

 dreaded by the inhabitants ; from which circumftance they have re- 

 ceived the name of Fatalis or Dejini^or. 



The following abridged account of the termites, and of the won- 

 derful habitations they build, is felecSted from an excellent defcrip- 

 tion of them in a Letter from Mr Henry Smeathman, of Clement's 

 Inn, to Sir Jofeph Banks, which was publifhed in the Philofophical 

 Tranfadions f. Though the nefts, or rather hills, conftruded by 

 the termites, are mentioned by many travellers, their defcriptions 

 and obfervations are by no means fo accurate as thofe of the inge- 

 nious Mr Smeathman. Of thefe infeds there are feveral fpecies ; 

 but they all refemble each other in form, and in their manner of 

 living. They differ, however, as much as birds, in the ftile of their 

 architedure, and in the feledion of the materials of which their 



nefts 



• In the windward parts of Africa, they are denominated bugga, buggs ; in ther 

 Weft Indies, ivood-lice, wood-ants, or ixihite-ants. They are likewife called piercers, , 

 eaters, or cutters, becaufe they cut almoft every thing in pieces. 



f Vol. 71. part I. page 139, 



