T E R 
TER 
TER 
?so 
They make their way most quickly into fir 
and aider, and grow to the greatest size. In 
the oak they make small progress, and ap- 
pear small and feeble,, and their shells much 
discoloured. 
Since each of these animals is lodged in a 
solitary, cell, and has no access to those of its 
own species, it has been matter of surprise 
how they should increase to so vast a multi- 
tude. Opon dissecting them, it appears that 
every individual has the parts of both sexes, 
and is therefore supposed to propagate by it- 
self. 
The sea-worms, which are pernicious to 
our shipping, appear to have the same office 
allotted to them in the waters which the ter- 
mites have on the land (see Termes). They 
will appear, on a very little consideration, to 
be most important beings in the great chain 
ot creation, and pleasing demonstrations of 
that infinitely wise and gracious Power which 
formed, and still preserves, the whole in such 
wonderful order and beauty ; for if it was not 
for the rapacity of these and such animals, 
tropical rivers, and indeed the ocean itself, 
would be choked with the bodies of trees 
which are annually carried down by the rapid 
torrents, as many of them would last for ages, 
and probably be productive of evils, of which, 
happily, we cannot in the present harmonious 
state of things form any idea ; whereas now 
being consumed by these animals, they are 
more easily broken in pieces by the waves ; 
and the fragments which are not devoured 
become specifically lighter, and are conse- 
quently more readily and more effectually 
thrown on shore, where the sun, wind, in- 
sects, and various other instruments, speedily 
promote their entire dissolution. 
TERES. See Anatomy. 
TERM, in geometry, is the extreme of any 
magnitude, or that which bounds and limits 
its extent'. So the terms of a line, are points; 
of a superficies, lines; of a solid, superficies. 
Terms, of an equation, or of any quantity, 
in Algebra, are the several names or members 
of which it is composed, separated from one 
another by the signs -}- or — . So, the quantity 
ax ■-}- 2 be — 3 ax' 1 , consists of the three terms ax 
and ‘Ibc and 3 ax 2 . 
In an equation, the terms are the parts which 
contain the several powers of the same unknown 
letter or quantity: for if the same unknown 
quantity is found in several members in the 
same degree or power, they shall pass but for 
one term, which is called a compound one, in 
distinction from a simple or single term. Thus, 
in the equation x* -f- a — 36 . x 2 — acx- — b l 
the four terms are x' and a — 3 b . x 2 and acx 
and C; of which the second term a — 3 b . x 2 is 
compound, and the other three are simple terms. 
Terms of a product, or of a fraction, or of a 
ratio, or of a proportion, See. are the several 
quantities employed in forming or composing 
them. Thus, the terms 
of the product ab, are a and l; 
of the fraction f-, are 5 and 8 ; 
of the ratio 6 to 7, are 6 and 7 ; 
of the proportion e * b ” 5*9, are a, 6, 
5, 9. 
Terms, are those spaces of time wherein 
the courts of justice are open for all that 
complain of wrongs or injuries, and seek their 
rights by course oflnwAor action, in order to 
their redress ; and dutmg which, the courts 
in Westminster-hall sit and give judgments, 
kc. but tire high court of parliament, the 
chancery, and inferior courts, do not observe 
the terms ; only the courts of kingVbench, 
common-pleas, and exchequer, the highest 
courts at common law. Of these terms there 
are four in every year, viz. Hilary term, which 
begins the 23d of January, and ends the 12th 
of February, unless on Sundays, and then the 
day after; Easter term, which begins the 
Wednesday fortnight after Easter-day, and 
ends the Monday next after ascension-day; 
Trinity term, which begins the Friday alter 
Trinity Sunday, and ends the Wednesday 
fortnight after; and Michaelmas term begins 
the 6th and ends the 28th of November. 
There are in each of these terms stated 
days, called days in bank, that is, days of 
appearance in the court of common pleas, 
called usually bancum, or commune bancum, 
to distinguish it from bancum regis, or the 
court of king’s-bench. They are generally 
at the distance of about a week from each 
other, and regulated by some festival of the 
church. On some of these days in bank, all 
original writs must be made returnable, and 
therefore they are generally called the re- 
turns of that term. 3 Black. 227. 
The first return in every term is, properly 
speaking, the first day in that term ; and 
thereon the court sits to take essoins, or ex- 
cuses, for such as do not appear, according 
to the summons of this writ ; wherefore this is 
usually called the essoin day of the term. But 
the person summoned has three days grace 
beyond the return of the writ, in which to 
make his appearance; and if he appears on 
the fourth day inclusive, quarto die post, it is 
sufficient. Therefore, at the beginning of 
each term, the court does not sit for dispatch 
of business till the fourth day, and in Trinity 
term, by stat. 32 H. VIII. c. 21, not till the 
sixth day. 3 Black. 227. 
Terms, Oxford. Hilary, or Lent term, 
begins on Jan. 14, and ends the Saturday be- 
fore Palm Sunday. Easter term begins the 
tenth day after Easter, and ends the Thursday 
beforeWhit-Sunday. Trinity term begins the 
Wednesday after Trinity Sunday, and ends 
after the act, sooner or later, as the vice- 
chancellor and convocation please. Michael- 
mas term begins on Oct. 10, and ends Dec. 
17. 
'Berms, Cambridge. Lent term begins on 
Jan. 13, and ends the Friday before Palm 
Sunday. Easter term begins the Wednesday 
after Easter week, and ends the week before 
Whit Sunday. Trinity term begins the Wed- 
nesday after 'Trinity Sunday, and ends the 
Friday after the commencement. Michael- 
mas term begins Oct. 10, and ends Dec. 16. 
Terms, Scottish. In Scotland Candlemas 
term begin*-. Jan. 23, and. ends Feb. 12. Whit- 
suntide term begins May 25, and ends June 
15. Lammas term begins July 20, and ends 
Aug. 8. Martinmas term begins Nov. 3, and 
ends Nov. 29. 
TERMES, the zvhite ant, a genus of in- 
sects of the order aptera: the generic cha- 
racter is, legs six, formed for running; eyes 
two; antennse setaceous; mouth furnished 
with two jaws. The European species of 
termes are very small, compared with those 
of the warmer regions of Africa and America; 
and instead of assembling in multitudes, as in 
those climates, are usually observed single. 
The most common of these is the termes 
pulsatorius of Linnaeus, a diminutive insect, 
of a whitish colour, and which, from its ge- 
neral resemblance to the insects of that 
genus, has by Derham and some other na- 
turalists been distinguished by the title of 
pediculus pulsatorius. It is very frequent,! 
during the summer months, in houses, par-8 
ticularly where the wainscot is in any degree I 
decayed, and is remarkable for causing af| 
long-continued sound, exactly resembling the! 
ticking of a watch. It is a very common in- 
sect in collections of dried plants, &c. which 
it often injures greatly. It is of so tender a 
frame as to be easily destroyed by the slightest 
pressure, and is an animal of very quick mo- 
tion. When magnified, the head, appears- 
large; the eyes remarkably conspicuous, of a 
most beautiful gold-colour, and divided, like 
those of most other insects, into innumerable 
hexagonal convexities; the antennae long and 
setaceous; the palpi or feelers two in num- 
ber, of moderate length, and terminating in 1 
a large club-shaped tip ; the thorax rather I 
narrow, and the abdomen obtusely oval ; the 9 
thighs or first joints of the legs thick, the re- I 
maining ones slender, and the feet furnished I 
with very small claws : the whole animal is ... 
beset with small, scattered hairs. According, 
to the observations of the celebrated Der- 
ham, this insect, at its first liatching from the 
egg, which is white, oval, and extremely 
small, bears a complete resemblance to a 
common mite, being furnished with eight 
legs, and beset with long hairs. After a cer- 
tain time it casts its skin, and appears in the 
very different form above-described. Some 
individuals of this species become winged 
when arrived at their full growth ; the wings, 
which are four in number, being very large* 
of a slightly iridescent appearance, and varie- 
gated with blackish and brown clouds or 
spots. It is in the beginning of July that this 
change takes place, and at this time several 
may be seen with the wings half-grown ; in 
a few days they seem to obtain their full 
size. 
Mr. Derham imagines the ticking sound 
which these animals produce, to be analo- 
gous to the call of birds to their mates during 
the breeding-season; and there seems to be no 
reason for calling in question the truth of this 
observation. We may add, that tins sound, 
as well as that produced by the ptinus fati- 
dicus, or death-watch, seems to afford a con- 
vincing proof of the faculty of hearing in in- 
sects, w hich some naturalists have been in- 
clined to deny. 
Of the exotic termites the most remarkable 
seems to he the termes bellicosus, whose his-] 
tory is described by Mr. Smeathman in the 
Philosophical Transactions. 
With the good order ot their subterraneous 
cities, they will appear foremost on the list 
of the wonders of the creation, as most closely 
imitating mankind in provident industry and 
regular government. 
The termites are represented by I.innaeu& 
as the greatest plagues of both Indies, and are 
indeed every way between the tropics so 
deemed. These insects have genet ally ob- 
tained the names of ants, it may be presume 
ed, rom the similarity in their manner of liv- 
ing, which is in large communities that erect 
very extraordinary nests, for the most part on 
the surface of the ground, whence their ex- 
cursions are made through subterraneous pas- 
sajes or covered galleries, which they build 
whenever necessity obliges, or plunder in- 
duces, them to march above ground ; and at 
