WHITE ANTS. *77 
White Ant. . Phil. Trans, vol. 7l*P art !• p. 141. Shaw 
Gen. Zool. 6. 414. pi. 118. 
The wonderful ceconomy of the little white ant is 
so truly deserving of notice, that we cannot be too 
particular in the description of its manners. The 
very interesting paper by Mr. Smeathman, inserted 
in the seventy-first volume of the Philosophical 
Transactions, contains a full account of the pro- 
ceedings of this little creature, which, uniting with 
others of the same species, forms a republic regu- 
lated by its own laws : but as the mere reference to 
this extensive work, which is too costly to become 
general, will be of little use, we shall avail our- 
selves of Mr. Smeathman’s information, and deliver 
part of his ample and well drawn up account, in 
his own words : 
“ Of a great many curious parts of the creation 
I met with on my travels in that almost unknown 
district of Africa, called Guinea, the termites, which 
by most travellers have been called white ants, 
seemed to me on many accounts most worthy of that 
exact and minute attention which I have bestowed 
upon them. 
“ The amazing great and sudden mischief they 
frequently do to the property of people in tropical cli- 
mates, makes them well known and greatly feared by 
the inhabitants. The size and figure of their buildings 
have attracted the notice of many travellers ; and 
yet the world has not hitherto been furnished with 
a tolerable description of them, though their con- 
trivance and execution scarce fall short of human 
