ENTOMOLOGY. 843 
and feated itfelf on the back of one of the larged of the 
cinder. It was in vain that the caterpillar endeavoured 
to diflodge the enemy ; and its anguifh at intervals ap¬ 
peared intolerable, in confequence of the wounds given 
by the fly. At every wound the poor caterpillar wreathed 
and twitted its whole frame, endeavouring to difengage 
the enemy, fometimes aiming its mouth towards the place, 
but it-was all in vain; its little tormentor ftill kept its 
place. When it had inflicted thirty or forty wounds, it 
took its flight with a vifible triumph; in each of thefe 
wounds the ichneumon had depolited an egg. I took the 
caterpillar home, to obferve the progrefs of the eggs 
which were tints placed in its body, taking care to give 
it a frefh fupply of leaves from time to time; it recovered 
to all appearance from the wounds, and from that time, 
for the (pace of four or five days, feemed to feed with its 
ufual avidity. The eggs were all hatched into fmall ob¬ 
long voracious worms, which fed from the moment of 
their appearance on the flefh of the caterpillar, in whofe 
body they were inclofed, and feemingly without wound¬ 
ing the organs of refpiration or digeftion ; and when they 
had arrived at their full growth, they ate their way out 
of the Tides of the animal. Thefe are what have vulgarly 
been called caterpillar caters. The caterpillar thus attacked 
by the larva of the ichneumon never efcapes, its dedruc- 
tion is infallible; but then its life is not taken away at 
once; the larva, while it is feeding thereon, knows how 
to fpare the parts which are ell'ential to life, bccaufe its 
own is at that time tied up in that of the caterpillar. No 
butterfly is produced from the caterpillar; the worms 
that feed on it are no fooner out of its body, than every 
one fpins its own web, and under this they pafs the pupa 
ftate, in order to introduce them to their winged form.” 
The number of infedts which feed upon others, nay, 
fome even upon their own fpecies, is very great : it is 
among thefe that we find the traces of the greateft art and 
cunning, as well in attack as defence. Some indeed ufe 
main force alone; as does the larva of the cimex merianae 
of Surinam, which leizes and devours young toads and 
frogs. See the article Cimex, and the correfponding en¬ 
graving, vol. iv. p. 598. Mod perfons are acquainted 
with the dexterous, arts of the fpider, the curious con- 
ftrudtion of the web he fpins, and the central pofition he 
takes, in order to watch more effectually the lead motion 
that may be communicated to the mefhes of its net. For 
their natural hidory, particularly of the tarantula , fee the 
article Aranea, vol. ii. p,. 30—35, and its correfponding 
engravings. 
We cannot difmifs this fubjedt without remarking on 
the extraordinary community and generation of the terines, 
or white ants, infedts of the aptera clafs, and far exceed¬ 
ing in wifdom and'policy of the bee, the ant, or the bea¬ 
ver. They are inhabitants of India, Africa, and South 
America. They build pyramidal ftrudtures, ten or twelve 
feet in height, and divided into appropriate apartments, 
magazines for provifions, arched chambers, and galleries 
of communication. Thefe are fo firmly cemented, that 
they eafily bear four men to dand upon them ; and in the 
plains of Senegal, appear like the villages of the native 
inhabitants. With wonderful dexterity and rapidity they 
dedroy food, furniture, books, clothes, and timber, of 
whatever magnitude, leaving the furface a mere fhell. 
The larva are fmall, being not half an inch long, fix¬ 
footed, with a roundifn tedaceous head, as fliewn, fig. 25, 
in the preceding plate; mandibles fliort, ftron’g, and 
toothed; antennae as long as the thorax, and ovate abdo¬ 
men. Thefe, like the neutral bees, are only the labour¬ 
ers, who build the ftrudtures, procure provifions for the 
males and females, and take care of the eggs; they are 
alfo the mod numerous. When they reach the pupa 
ftate, they are dill adtive, but.never work ; ferve as fuper- 
intendants over the labourers, or as guards to defend their 
habitations from intrufion and violence. Whenever a 
breach is made in the dwelling, they rufh forward and 
defend the entrance with great ferocity; fome of them 
beating with their mandibles againd any hard fubdance, 
as a fignal to the other guards, or as encouragement to 
the labourers'; they then retire, and are (ucceeded by the 
labourers, each with a burthen of tempered mortar in 
his mouth, and who diligently fet about to repair what¬ 
ever injury has been fudained. One of thefe attends every 
fix or eight hundred labourers who are building a wall, 
taking no adtive part himfelf,.but frequently making the 
fignal above-mentioned, which is condantly anfwered by 
a loud hifs from all the labourers, who then evidently 
redouble their diligence. See this date of the infedt, 
fig. 26, in the preceding plate. 
The male and female are nearly alike ; but the male, 
after pafling from the pupa date, is furnidied with four 
long horizontal wings. See the female, fig. 16, and the 
male, fig. 17, in the Entomology Plate I. Thefe fly abroad 
in the night; but foon after fun-rife, the wings become 
dry, and they fall on the ground, and are devoured by 
birds, or fought after by the inhabitants, who road and 
eat them with great avidity. After impregnation, the 
abdomen of the female grows to a prodigious bulk, ex¬ 
ceeding the red of her body nearly two thouland times : 
it is then vehicular and white, with tranfverfe brown 
fpots, and an undulate or dightly lobed margin. In this 
date it contains an immenfe number of fmall round brown 
eggs, which are protruded to the amount of eight thou- 
fand in twenty-four hours. Thefe are indantly taken up 
by the labourers, and conveyed to feparate chambers, 
where after they are hatched, the young are attended and. 
provided for, till they are able to fliift for themfelves, 
and take their diare in the fervices of the community.—■ 
For.their natural hidory, and figures of their fpecies and 
huts, fee the article Termes. 
Yet the works of thefe bufy infedts are nothing to the 
immenfe labours of the little animals which produce the 
coral rocks, and which form cinders of iflands in the fea. 
See the articles Coral, Cora l-Rocks, and Corallina, 
with the corefponding engraving, vol. v. p.,187—193. 
On the revivification of. torpid and drowned infedts, 
many curious fadts have been related. Common flies, 
fmall beetles, fpiders, moths, bugs, See. after being 
drowned in fpirit of wine, and continuing apparently 
dead, have been redored to life merely by being thrown 
among wood-alhes dightly warm. While Dr. Franklin 
redded in France, he received from America a quantity 
of Madeira wine which had been bottled in Virginia. 
At the bottom of fome of the bottles he found a few 
dead flies, which he expofed to the warm fun, it being 
then the month of July; and in lefs than three hours 
thefe apparently dead animals recovered life, which had 
been fo long fufpended. At fird they appeared as if 
convulfed; they then raifed themfelves on their legs, 
waffled their eyes with their fore feet, dreffed their wings 
with thofe behind, and began in a little time to fly about. 
But the mod extraordinary indance of revivification 
that we have feen recorded, is the following: In the 
warmer parts of France there is an infect very deftrndtive 
to rye, which feems to begin its operations at the root of 
the plant, and gradually to proceed upwards to the ear. 
If the plant be completely dried while the infedt is in 
the root or Item, the animal is irrecoverably killed ; but 
after it has reached the grain, the cafe is very diiferent. 
There have been indances, which are noticed in the 
academy of fciences at Paris, of thefe infedts being 
brought to life in a quarter of an hour, by a little warm 
water, after the grains, in which they were lodged, had 
been kept dry for thirty years i 
Thofe who wifli to take infedts for the purpofe of 
forming a collection, fltould be provided with a gauze 
clap-net condrudted for that purpofe. When they are 
taken, dick a pin through the middle of one of the hard 
wings, and pafs it through the body-. They may be 
killed without injury to their colours or beauty, by im- 
merfion in hot water, or in fpirit of wine; then dick 
them on a piece of cork ; and afterwards carefully pl.acci 
1 " thek" 
