2hap. XXVII. WHITE ANTS. 353 



I had often before noticed the stupefaction produced by 

 the injection of a fluid from the sting of certain insects. It 

 is particularly observable in a hymenopterous insect called 

 the "plasterer" (Pelopceus Eckloni), which in its habits resembles 

 somewhat the mason-bee. It is about an inch and a quarter 

 in length, jet-black in colour, and may be observed coming 

 into houses, carrying in its fore-legs a pellet of soft plastei 

 about the size of a pea. When it has fixed upon a convenient 

 spot it forms a cell about the same length as its body, plas- 

 tering the walls so as to be quite thin and smooth inside. 

 When this is finished it brings seven or eight caterpillars or 

 spiders, each of which is rendered insensible by the fluid from 

 its sting. These it deposits in the cell, together with one of 

 its own larva*, which, as it grows, finds fresh food ready for 

 its use. The insects are in a state of coma, but the presence 

 of vitality prevents putridity, or desiccation. By the time 

 the young insect is full grown and its wings completely 

 developed, the food is done. It then pierces the wall of its 

 cell at the place last filled up by its parent, and begins life 

 for itself. The plasterer is a most useful insect, as it checks 

 the inordinate increase of caterpillars and spiders. It may 

 often be seen dragging along a caterpillar or even a cricket 

 much larger that itself, but lying perfectly still after the 

 injection of the poison. The fluid in each case is, I suppose, 

 designed to cause insensibility and likewise act as an anti- 

 septic, the death of the victims being without pain. 



The white ants perform a most important part in the 

 economy of nature, by burying decaying vegetable matter 

 quickly beneath the soil, just as the ferocious red ant does 

 dead animal substances. The white ant keeps generally out 

 of sight, and works under galleries constructed by night, to 

 screen them from the observation of birds. At some given 

 signal, however, though I never could ascertain what, they 

 rush out by hundreds, and the sound of their mandibles 

 cutting grass into lengths may be heard like a gentle wind 

 murmuring through the leaves of the trees. They drag these 

 pieces to the doors of their abodes, and after some hour<' toil 

 leave off work, leaving many of the bits of grass collected 

 around the orifice. They continue out of sight for perhaps a 

 month, but are never idle. On one occasion a good bundle of 



