THE WHITE ANTS. 393 



trying to escape from such direful foes as the ants of its own country. During the last war 

 of the English in India, a picket of soldiers contrived to disturb a large wasps' nest, and were 

 forced to scatter in all directions in order to avoid the attacks of their small but formidable 

 antagonists, for whose assaults they, being Highlanders, were very ill prepared. Yet no one 

 would impugn the courage of the soldiers (the officer in command, an old pupil of my own, 

 having won the Victoria Cross) ; and the ants are even inore terrible foes to the Mantis than 

 the wasps to human beings, their dimensions being quite disproportionate, and their usual 

 prey being insects whom they overpower by numbers and united action, so that the size and 

 courage of the Mantis are impotent when opposed to such foes. 



Our Mantidce are also small compared with those of the tropics. 



FRINGE-WINGED INSECTS; T H Y S A N O PT E R A. 



The next order, according to Mr. Westwood's arrangement, is that called the Thysanoptera, 

 or Fringe-winged Insects, on account of the manner in which the wings are edged with long 

 and delicate cilia. They are all little insects, seldom exceeding the tenth or twelfth of an 

 inch in length, but, although small, are capable of doing considerable damage. The\^ are 

 mostly to be found on iflants and flowers, especially those blossoms where the petals are wide 

 and deep and afford a good shelter. The convolvulus is always a great favorite with them. 

 Greenhouses are sadly liable to their inroads, and owing to their numbers they are very 

 injurious to melons, cucumbers, and similar plants, covering their leaves with a profusion of 

 decayed patches, that look as if some powerful acid had been sprinkled over them. Only one 

 family of these insects is acknowledged by entomologists. 



TERMITES, DRAGON-FLIES, ETC.; NEUROPTERA. 



We now come to an order of insects containing some of the most beautiful and a few 

 of the most interesting members of the class. They are known by the possession of four equal- 

 sized membranous wings divided into a great number of little cells technically called areolets. 

 The mouth is furnished with transversely movable jaws, and the females do not possess a 

 sting or valved ovipositor. In this order are comprised the ant-lions, the dragon-flies, the 

 termites, the lace-wings, and the May-flies. 



The first family in Mr. Westwood's arrangement is that of the Termites, popularly but 

 erroneously known by the name of White Ants, because they live in vast colonies, and in 

 many of their habits display a resemblance to the insect from which they take their name. 

 All the Termites are miners, and many of them erect edifices of vast dimensions when com- 

 pared with the size of their architects. For example, the buildings erected by the common 

 White Ant (Termes bellicosus) will often reach the astonishing height of sixteen or seventeen 

 feet, which in proportion to the size of the insect would be equivalent to an edifice a mile 

 in height if built by man. The dwelling is made of clay, worked in some marvellous manner 

 by the jaws of the insect-architects ; and is of such astonishing hardness, that although hollow, 

 and pierced by numerous galleries and chambers, they will sustain the weight of cattle, which 

 are in the habit of ascending these wonderful monuments of insect labor for the purpose of 

 keeping a watch on the surrounding country. A full-sized habitation of the warlike Termite 

 resembles a large irregular cone, having a diameter about equal to its height, and covered with 



Vol. m. 50. 



