Some account of the termites, which are found in Africa and other hot climates. Extract from Phil. Trans

Smeathman, Henry (1742-86). Some account of the termites, which are found in Africa and other hot climates. Extract from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 71 (1781): 139-192, [2]pp. 4 folding engraved plates. 235 x 182 mm. Disbound, some leaves loose. Fore-edges of last 2 plates dust-soiled and frayed, some offsetting, old stamp of the Royal Physical Society on all plates. Good copy.

First Edition. Smeathman spent four years in West Africa collecting insects and studying termites. His paper marks "the first time any European had studied the giant earthen structures built by African termites. Smeathman grouped the world's termites into five species, applying the Linnaean system for the first time to termites: Termes bellicosus, destructor, mordax, atrox, and arborum . . . It was the bellicosus "warlike" termite of West Africa that especially attracted Smeathman's attention. This was the kind that built impregnable packed-earth mounds over 12 feet tall, using techniques similar to that employed on the original Qin dynasty Great Wall of China. One of the engravings shows a section of a termitarium, revealing not only the network of pathways, but the locations of the fungus gardens, the nurseries, and the royal chamber for the Queen. The other plates depict the different castes of termites: workers, soldiers, king and queen; as well as details of the queen's chamber, and views of other kinds of termite mounds" ("Henry Smeathman." Scientist of the Day, Linda Hall Library, 15 Mar. 2022).