WHITE ANTS. 
503 
they excavate and carry away with wonderful dis- 
patch and astonishment; for, except a shelf has 
something standing upon it, as a book, or any thing 
else that may tempt them, they will not perforate 
the surface, but artfully preserve it quite whole, 
and eat away all the inside, except a few fibres 
which barely keep the two sides connected together; 
so that a piece of an inch-board which appears solid 
to the eye, will not weigh much more than two 
sheets of paste-board of equal dimensions, after 
these animals have been a little while in possession 
of it. In short, the termites are so insidious in 
their attacks, that we cannot be too much on our 
guard against them : they will sometimes begin and 
raise their works, especially in new houses, through 
the floor. If you destroy the work so begun, and 
make a fire upon the spot, the next night they will 
attempt to rise through another part ; and, if they 
happen to emerge under a chest or trunk early in 
the night, will pierce the bottom, and destroy or 
spoil every thing in it before the morning. On 
these accounts we are careful to set all our chests 
and boxes upon stones or bricks, so as to leave the 
bottoms of such furniture some inches above the 
ground ; wdiich not only prevents these insects find- 
ing them out so readily, but preserves the bottoms 
from a corrosive which would strike from the earth 
through, and rot every thing therein : a vast deal of 
vermin also would harbour under, such as cock- 
roaches, centipedes, millepedes, scorpions, ants, and 
various other noisome insects. 
