TERMES, a genus of insects belonging to the order of aptera. The antennæ are setaceous, the mouth armed with jaws; the feet are six, formed for running. There are two species.
1. The fatale, or white ant, of a yellowish colour, is a native of both the Indies; makes its nest of wood, which it draws out into a cylindrical form as it moves along; inhabits dark and shady places, never appearing in the open air. It is in the highest degree pernicious, destroying every thing of wood or cloth, whether of animal or vegetable materials, penetrating into its substance and devouring it, while the surface is left entire. It can only be destroyed by quicklime.
Of the white ants of India and Africa we have a very curious account, published in the 71st volume of the Philosophical Transactions by Mr Henry Smeathman of Clement's Inn. According to this account, the works of these insects surpass those of the bees, wasps, beavers, and other animals, as much at least as those of the most polished European nations excel those of the least cultivated savages. And, even with regard to man, his greatest works, the boasted pyramids, fall comparatively far short, even in size alone,
of the structures raised by these insects. The labourers among them employed in this service are not a quarter of an inch in length; but the structures which they erect rise to 10 or 12 feet and upwards above the surface of the earth. Supposing the height of a man to be six feet, the author calculates, that the buildings of these insects may be considered, relatively to their size and that of a man, as being raised to near five times the height of the greatest of the Egyptian pyramids; that is, corresponding with considerably more than half a mile. We may add, that, with respect to the interior construction, and the various members and dispositions of the parts of the building, they appear greatly to exceed that of any other work of human construction.
The most striking parts of these structures are—the royal apartments, the nurseries, magazines of provisions, arched chambers and galleries, with their various communications; the ranges of Gothic-shaped arches, projected, and not formed by mere excavation, some of which are two or three feet high, but which diminish rapidly, like the arches of aisles in perspectives; the various roads, sloping stair-cases, and bridges, consisting of one vast arch, and constructed to shorten the distance between the several parts of the building, which would otherwise communicate only by winding passages. These astonishing structures are the works of an insect only a quarter of an inch long, and 25 of which weigh only one grain—But these and many other curious instances of the great sagacity and powers of these insects cannot be understood, without viewing the plates in which their feeble frames, and comparatively stupendous works, are delineated.
The economy of these industrious insects appears to have been very attentively observed by the ingenious author, as well as their buildings. There are three distinct ranks or orders among them, constituting a well-regulated community. These are, first, the labourers, or working insects; next the soldiers, or fighting order, who do no kind of labour, and are about twice as long as the former, and equal in bulk to about 15 of them; and lastly, the winged or perfect insects, who may be called the nobility or gentry of the state; for they neither labour nor fight, being scarcely capable even of self-defence.—“These only are capable of being elected kings or queens; and nature has so ordered it, that they emigrate within a few weeks after they are elevated to this state, and either establish new kingdoms, or perish within a day or two.”
This last-mentioned order differs so much from the other two, that they have not hitherto been supposed to belong to the same community. In fact, they are not to be discovered in the nest till just before the commencement of the rainy season; when they undergo the last change, which is preparative to the formation of new colonies. They are equal in bulk to two soldiers and about 30 labourers; and are furnished with four wings, with which they are destined to roam about for a few hours; at the end of which time they lose their wings, and become the prey of innumerable birds, reptiles, and insects: while probably not a pair out of many millions of this unhappy race get into a place of safety, fulfil the first law of nature, and lay the
Terms. foundation of a new community. In this state many fall into the neighbouring waters, and are eat with avidity by the Africans. The author found them delicate, nourishing, and wholesome; without sauce or other help from cookery, than merely roasting them in the manner of coffee.
The few fortunate pairs who happen to survive this annual massacre and destruction, are represented by the author as being casually found by some of the labourers, that are continually running about on the surface of the ground, and are elected kings and queens of new states. Those who are not so elected and preserved, certainly perish, and most probably in the course of the following day. By these industrious creatures the king and queen elect are immediately protected from their innumerable enemies, by enclosing them in a chamber of clay; where the business of propagation soon commences. Their "voluntary subjects" then busy themselves in constructing wooden nurseries, or apartments entirely composed of wooden materials, seemingly joined together with gums. Into these they afterwards carry the eggs produced from the queen; lodging them there as fast as they can obtain them from her. The author even furnishes us with plausible reasons to believe, that they here form a kind of garden for the cultivation of a species of microscopic mushroom; which Mr Konig (in an essay on the East Indian termites, read before the Society of Naturalists of Berlin) conjectures to be the food of the young insects. But perhaps the most wonderful, and at the same time best authenticated, part of the history of these singular insects is that which relates to the queen or mother of the community, in her pregnant state.
After impregnation, a very extraordinary change begins to take place in her person, or rather in her abdomen only. It gradually increases in bulk, and at length becomes of such an enormous size as to exceed the bulk of the rest of her body 1500 or 2000 times. She becomes 1000 times heavier than her consort; and exceeds 20,000 or 30,000 times the bulk of one of the labourers. In this state, the matrix has a constant peristaltic or undulating motion; the consequence of which is (as the author has counted them) the protrusion of 80,000 eggs in 24 hours.
These eggs, says the author, "are instantly taken from her body by her attendants (of whom there always are, in the royal chamber and the galleries adjacent, a sufficient number in waiting) and carried to the nurseries—which are sometimes four or five feet distant in a straight line.—Here, after they are hatched, the young are attended and provided with every thing necessary, until they are able to shift for themselves, and take their share of the labours of the community."
Many curious and striking particulars are related of the great devastations committed by this powerful community; who construct roads, or rather covered ways, diverging in all directions from the nest, and leading to every object of plunder within their reach. Though the mischiefs they commit are very great, such is the economy of nature, that it is probably counterbalanced by the good produced by them; in quickly destroying dead trees and other substances, which, as the author observes, would, by a tedious
decay, serve only to encumber the face of the earth. Terms. Such is their alacrity and dispatch in this office, that the total destruction of deserted towns is so effectually accomplished, that in two or three years a thick wood fills the space; and not the least vestige of a house is to be discovered.
From the many singular accounts here given of the police of these insects, we shall select and abridge only one; respecting the different functions of the labourers and soldiers, or the civil and military establishments in this community, on an attempt to examine their nest or city.
On making a breach in any part of the structure with a hoe or pick-axe, a soldier immediately appears, and walks about the breach; as if to see whether the enemy is gone, or to examine whence the attack proceeds. In a short time he is followed by two or three others, and soon afterwards by a numerous body, who rush out as fast as the breach will permit them; their numbers increasing as long as any one continues to batter the building. During this time they are in the most violent battle and agitation; while some of them are employed in beating with their forceps upon the building, so as to make a noise that may be heard at three or four feet distance. On ceasing to disturb them, the soldiers retire, and are succeeded by the labourers, who hasten in various directions towards the breach; each with a burden of mortar in his mouth, ready tempered. Though there are millions of them, they never stop or embarrass each other; and a wall gradually arises that fills up the chasm. A soldier attends every 600 or 1000 of the labourers, seemingly as a director of the works; for he never touches the mortar, either to lift or carry it. One in particular places himself close to the wall which they are repairing, and frequently makes the noise above-mentioned; which is constantly answered by a loud hiss from all the labourers within the dome; and at every such signal, they evidently redouble their pace, and work as fast again.
The work being completed, a renewal of the attack constantly produces the same effects. The soldiers again rush out, and then retreat, and are followed by the labourers, loaded with mortar, and as active and diligent as before. "Thus," says the author, "the pleasure of seeing them come out to fight or to work alternately may be obtained, as often as curiosity excites or time permits: and it will certainly be found, that the one order never attempts to fight, or the other to work, let the emergency be ever so great." The obliuacy of the soldiers is remarkable. "They fight to the very last, disputing every inch of ground so well as often to drive away the negroes, who are without shoes, and make white people bleed plentifully through their flockings."
Such is the strength of the buildings erected by these puny insects, that when they have been raised to little more than half their height, it is always the practice of the wild bulls to stand as centinels upon them, while the rest of the herd is ruminating below. When at their full height of 10 or 12 feet, they are used by the Europeans at places to look out from, over the top of the grass, which here grows to the height of 13 feet upon an average. The author has stood with four men on the top of one of these buildings,
Terminalia ings, in order to get a view of any vessel that might
Terpander. come in sight.
2. The pulsatorium, or death-watch, varies in colour and size; being sometimes quite white or grey, at others of a lead colour. In some the abdomen is marked with a brown annular band, after which, near the tail, is found a brown spot. The insect is commonly found in old wood, decayed tables, or books not often looked into. It runs and even leaps a little when touched. Those met with in houses are whiter than those which may be seen in gardens and in the fields, on walls, and the trunks of trees, which are more of a brown colour, and somewhat hairy. This insect imitates the ticking of a watch, which some imagine it does by striking its head against the waistcoat; and hence Linnaeus has given it the name of pulsatorium. But this noise is occasioned by one of the ptini, and is an amorous invitation. By superstitious people it is thought to be a prognostic of death.