the Termites of Africa and other hot Climates . 145 
, Of every fpecies there are three orders ; firft, the working 
infers, which, for brevity, I {hall generally call labourers ; 
next the fighting ones, or foldiers , which do no kind of 
labour; and, laft of all, the winged ones, or perfeft infeffs, 
which are male and female, and capable of propagation. 
Thefe might very appofitely be called the nobility or gentry , 
for they neither labour, or toil, or fight, being quite incapable 
of either, and almoft of felf-defence. Thefe only are capable 
of being elected kings or queens ; and nature has fo ordered it, 
that they emigrate within a few weeks after they are elevated 
to this ftate, and either eftablifh new kingdoms, or perifli 
within a day or two. 
The Termes bellicofus being the largeft fpecies is moft re- 
markable and belt known on the Coaft of Africa. It eredts 
immenle buildings of well-tempered clay or earth, which are 
contrived and finilhed with fuch art and ingenuity, that we are 
at a lofs to fay, whether they are moft to be admired on that 
account, or for their enormous magnitude and folidity. It is. 
from the two lower orders of this, or a fimilar fpecies, that 
linnJeus feems to have taken his defcription of the Termes 
Fatalism and moft of the accounts brought home: from Africa 
or Afia of the white Ants are alfo taken from a fpecies that 
are fo much alike in external habit and fize, and build fo much 
in their manner, that one may almoft venture to pronounce 
them mere variations of the fame fpecies. 
The reafon that the larger Termites have been moft remarked 
is obvious ; they not only build larger and more curious nefts, 
but are alfo more numerous, and do infinitely more mifchief to 
mankind. When thefe infers attack fuch things as we would 
not wifh to have injured, we muft confider them as moft perni- 
cious ; but when they are employed in deftroying decayed trees 
Vol. LXXL U and 
