


INTRODUCTION. 25 
The destructive powers of these creatures, so insignificant in 
appearance, are still more surprising. During the spring of a 
single year they can effect the ruin of a house by destroying the 
beams and planks. The town of La Rochelle, to which the 
Termites were imported by an American ship, is menaced with 
being eventually suspended on catacombs, like the town of 
Valencia in New Grenada. It is well known what destruction is 
caused when a swarm of Locusts alight in a cultivated field, 
and it is certain that even their larvee do as much injury as 
the perfect insect. All this sufficiently proves the destructive 
capabilities of these little animals, which we are accustomed to 
despise. 
M. Plateau has studied the power of traction in some insects, 
the power of pushing in the digging insects, and the lifting 
power of others during flight. He has thus been able to make 
some most interesting comparisons, of some of which we will relate 
the results. 
The average weight of man being 142 lbs., and his power of 
traction, according to Régnier, being 124]bs., the proportion of the 
weight he can draw to the weight of his body is only as 87 to 100. 
With the horse the proportion is not more than 67 to 100 ; a horse 
1,350 Ibs. in weight only drawing about 900 lbs. The horse, 
therefore, can draw little more than half his own weight, and a man 
cannot draw the weight of his own body. 
This is a very poor result, if compared with the strength of the 
cockchafer. This insect, in fact, possesses a power of traction 
equal to more than fourteen times its own weight. If you 
amuse yourself with the children’s game of making a cockchafer 
draw small cargoes of stones, you am be surprised at the great 
weight which this insignificant looking animal is able to accomplish. 
To test the power of traction in HRS M. Plateau attached 
them to a weight by means of a thread fastened to one of their feet. 
The Coleoptera * are the best adapted for these experiments. 
The following are some of the results obtained by the Belgian 
physician :— Carabus auratus can draw seven times the weight of 
its body ; Nebria brevicollis, twenty-five times ; Necrophorus ves- 
pillo, fifteen times; Trichius fasciatus, forty-one times; and 
* Jor explanation of the words Coleoptera, &c., see p. 28.—LKp. 

