WHITE ANTS. 
183 
they have removed from within, being somehow sen- 
sible that there is no necessity for it. These exca- 
vated trees have deceived me several times in run- 
ning ; for attempting to step two or three feet high, 
I might as well have attempted to step upon a cloud, 
and have come down with such unexpected violence, 
that besides shaking my teeth and bones almost to 
dislocation, I have been precipitated head foremost 
among the neighbouring trees and bushes/' * 
Their communities are so numerous that the de- 
struction of myriads makes no sensible diminution, and 
in some ungenial localities, they are such a continual 
nuisance, as to have a considerable influence upon a 
man’s social comforts. The queen is incredibly pro- 
lific and will produce upwards of eighty thousand 
eggs within twenty-four hours. And what is ex- 
traordinary in the civil organization, if I may so say, 
of this little commonwealth is, that the king and queen 
have a host of retainers constantly in waiting: as 
soon as the latter lays her eggs, they are carried to 
different cells, at a distance from the state apart- 
ment, where they are carefully deposited, and when 
hatched, the new-born insects are attended with the 
most vigilant circumspection, until able to provide 
for themselves and share in the labours of their com- 
munity. 
These creatures are so fond of paper that they 
never fail to make great havoc among the books that 
happen to be within their reach. The only protec- 
tion from their depredations is a binding of Russia 
* See Mr. Smeathman’s account of the White Ant, in the 
seventy-first volume of the Philosophical Transactions. 
