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The queen Termes, like the queen bee, is

the mother of the whole community; and,

about this time, undergoes a most extraordinary change, in the form and size of the abdomen, which enlarges so prodigiously, that, in an 01(1 queen, it will be equal in bulk to twenty or thirty thousand labourers. rrllis receptacle of eggs, previously to this change, was only about half an inch long, and, in tire 'space of two years, sometimes increases to the length of six inches. Its amazing extension is riot its only remarkable quality; for its continual motion resembles the undulating of waves, and causes the protruding of eggs, at the rate 'of sixty in a minute, or eighty thousand in twenty-four hours. The labourers, like the neuters iii a bee-hive, move these eggs a's soon as they are deposited, and carry them to apartments, which I shall call the nurseries. A.s soon as the eggs are hatched, they nurse the young with tender care, and supply all their wants, till they are able to take their share in the labours of the 'community. This account applies particularly to the Termes belicosus.

It is now time to take a view of the interior of one of their vast nests. Each of these buildings has an outward covering and interior apartments. The exterior is one large shell, formed like a dome; large and strong enough

to