A6ELENA. BRUNNEA. 351 



"It is generally only by incessant vigilance that we can trace 

 the course of their devastations and prevent their ravages. At 

 the time of M. Audoin's visit a curious proof was accidentally 

 obtained of the mischief which this insect silently accomplishes. 

 One day it was discovered that the archives of the Department 

 were almost totally destroyed, and that without the slightest 

 external trace of any damage. The Termites had reached the 

 boxes in which these documents were preserved by Tnining the 

 wainscoting ; and they had then leisurely set to work to devour 

 these administrative records, carefully respecting the upper sheets 

 and the margin of each leaf, so that a box which was only a 

 mass of rubbish, seemed to contain a pile of papers in perfect 

 order." 



In the British Museum are several examples of the ravages 

 worked by Termites, one of which is an ordinary beam that has 

 been so completely hollowed and eaten away, that nothing 

 remains but a mere shell no thicker than the wood of a band- 

 box. 



Besides the species which were investigated by M. de Quatre- 

 fages, there are others in the south of France, and in Sardinia 

 and Spain. One species, TerTnes flavicollis, diiefly attacks and 

 destroys the olives, while in the Landes and Gironde the oaks 

 and firs are killed by another species, Termes ludfugvs. 



As the limits of the work preclude a very lengthened account 

 of any on6 creature, our history of the Termites must here be 

 concluded, although much interesting matter remains unwritten. 



In the accompanying illustration are shown two nests, the 

 two upper specimens on the right hand having been already 

 described. They are made by the little spider called Agekna 

 bntnnea, and their history wiU be found on page 303. 



The two lower nests are made by a species of solitary wasp, 

 which has no popular name, but is known to entomologists as 

 Eumenes coarctata. It is not a large insect, the female being 

 only half an inch in length, and the male rather smaller. The 

 general colour is black, vrith a fine velvet-like pile on the abdo- 

 men, and relieved by lines and spots of yellow. The abdomen 

 is small, and set on a rather short and pear-shaped footstalk, as 

 may be seen by the illustration, which represents the insect of 

 its natural size. 



