M. de Quatrefages, who visited one of the spots in which these destructive insects had settled themselves, gives the following account of their devastating energy: “The prefecture and a few neighbouring houses are the principal scene of the destructive ravages of the termites, but here they have taken complete possession of the premises. In the garden not a stake can be put into the ground, and not a plank can be left on the beds, without being attacked within twenty-four or forty-eight hours. The fences put round the young trees are gnawed from the bottom, while the trees themselves are gutted to the very branches. “Within the building itself the apartments and offices are all alike invaded. I saw upon the roof of a bedroom that had been lately repaired galleries made by the termites which looked like stalactites, and which had begun to show themselves the very day after the workmen left the place. In the cellars I found similar galleries, which were either half way between the ceiling and the floor, or running along the walls and extending, no doubt, up to the very garrets, for on the principal staircase other galleries were observed, between the ground floor and the second floor, passing under the plaster wherever it was sufficiently thick for the purpose, and only coming to view at different points where the stones were on the surface, for, like other species, the termites of La Rochelle always work under cover wherever it is possible for them to do so. It is generally only by incessant vigilance that we can trace the course of their devastations and prevent their ravages. “At the time of M. Audoin’s visit a curious proof was accidentally obtained of the mischief which this insect silently accomplishes. One day it was discovered that the archives of the department were almost totally destroyed, and that without the slightest external trace of any damage. The termites had reached the boxes in which these documents were preserved by mining the wainscoting, and they had then leisurely set to work to devour these administrative records, carefully respecting the upper sheets and the margin of each leaf, so that a box which was only filled by a mass of rubbish seemed to enclose a file of papers in perfect order. “The hardest woods are attacked in the same manner. I saw on one of the staircases an oak post, in which one of the clerks had buried his hand up to the wrist in grasping at it for support, as his foot accidentally slipped. The interior of the post was entirely formed of empty cells, the substance of which could be scraped away like dust, while the layer that had been left untouched by the termites was not thicker than a sheet of paper.”