RUFESCENT ANT. TERMITES. 295 
carry, tbeir masters, who pass the rest of 
their lives in luxurious indolence. These 
piratical ants, the Jbrmica riif'escens^ are 
of a reddish colour, while the species, 
from which they make their captives, are 
black, and are thence aptly called the 
Negro ants. 
Luci/, How delighted I should be, 
mamma, if you would show me some 
of these wonderful cities of the brown 
ants, and the still more wonderful battles 
of those slave-making ants. 
Mother, None of those species inha- 
bit this country ; but when you can read 
French more fluently, you shall see some 
very extraordinary details of the sagacity 
and singular habits of these creatures, in 
a book written by the celebrated P.Huber, 
of Geneva. In the mean time, I will 
show you a part of Mr. Smeathman's en- 
tertaining account of the white ants, or 
termites, of the coast of Guinea. Strictly 
speaking, however, they are not ants, as 
they belong to the order neuroptera ; but 
their habits are, in many respects, similar; 
