which are perishable commodities, he can lay up no provender for the
winter.

M. de la Loubiere, in his relation of Siam, says, "That in a part of that
kingdom, which lies open to great inundations, all the ants make their
settlements upon trees; no ants' nests are to be seen any where else."
Whereas in our country the ground is their only situation. From the
scriptual account of these insects, one might be led to suspect, that in
some climates they lay up a provision for the winter. Origen affirms the
same, (Cont. Cels. L. 4.) But it is generally believed that in this country
they do not, (Prov. vi. 6. xxx. 25.) The white ants of the coast of Africa
make themselves pyramids eight or ten feet high, on a base of about the
same width, with a smooth surface of rich clay, excessively hard and well
built, which appear at a distance like an assemblage of the huts of the
negroes, (Adanson). The history of these has been lately well described in
the Philosoph. Transactions, under the name of termes, or termites. These
differ very much from the nest of our large ant; but the real history of
this creature, as well as of the wasp, is yet very imperfectly known.

Wasps are said to catch large spiders, and to cut off their legs, and carry
their mutilated bodies to their young, Dict. Raison. Tom. I. p. 152.

One circumstance I shall relate which fell under my own eye, and shewed the
power or reason in a wasp, as it is exercised among men. A wasp, on a
gravel walk, had caught a fly nearly as large as himself; kneeling on the
ground I observed him separate the tail and the head from the body part, to
which the wings were attached. He then took the body part in his paws, and
rose about two feet from the ground with it; but a gentle breeze wafting
the wings of the fly turned him round in the air, and he settled again with
his prey upon the gravel. I then distinctly observed him cut off with his
mouth, first one of the wings, and then the other, after which he flew away
with it unmolested by the wind.

Go, thou sluggard, learn arts and industry from the bee, and from the ant!

Go, proud reasoner, and call the worm thy sister!

XVII. _Conclusion._

It was before observed how much the superior accuracy of our sense of touch
contributes to increase our knowledge; but it is the greater energy and
activity of the power of volition (as explained in the former Sections of
this work) that marks mankind, and has given him the empire of the