sting of certain insects before. It is particularly
observable in a hymenopterous insect called the "plasterer" ('Pelopaeus
Eckloni'), which in his habits resembles somewhat the mason-bee. It is
about an inch and a quarter in length, jet black in color, and may be
observed coming into houses, carrying in its fore legs a pellet of soft
plaster about the size of a pea. When it has fixed upon a convenient
spot for its dwelling, it forms a cell about the same length as its
body, plastering the walls so as to be quite thin and smooth inside.
When this is finished, all except a round hole, it brings seven or eight
caterpillars or spiders, each of which is rendered insensible, but not
killed, by the fluid from its sting. These it deposits in the cell, and
then one of its own larvae, which, as it grows, finds food quite
fresh. The insects are in a state of coma, but the presence of vitality
prevents putridity, or that drying up which would otherwise take place
in this climate. By the time the young insect is full grown and its
wings completely developed, the food is done. It then pierces the wall
of its cell at the former door, or place last filled up by its parent,
flies off, and begins life for itself. The plasterer is a most useful
insect, as it acts as a check on the inordinate increase of caterpillars
and spiders. It may often be seen with a caterpillar or even a cricket
much larger than itself, but they lie perfectly still after the
injection of chloroform, and the plasterer, placing a row of legs on
each side of the body, uses both legs and wings in trailing the
victim along. The fluid in each case is, I suppose, designed to cause
insensibility, and likewise act as an antiseptic, the death of the
victims being without pain.

Without these black soldier-ants the country would be overrun by the
white ants; they are so extremely prolific, and nothing can exceed the
energy with which they work. They perform a most important part in the
economy of nature by burying vegetable matter as quickly beneath the
soil as the ferocious red ant does dead animal substances. The white ant
keeps generally out of sight, and works under galleries constructed
by night to screen them from the observation of birds. At some given
signal, however, I never could ascertain what, they rush out by
hundreds, and the sound of their mandibles cutting grass into lengths
may be heard like a gentle wind murmuring through the leaves of the
trees. They drag