220 ELEMENTS OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 



make their way they build covered ways, sometimes for 

 hundreds of feet. They feed upon dead wood, and will 

 sometimes utterly eat out the inside of the timbers of a 

 house, leaving posts and joists but a mere shell. They are 

 comparatively rare in colder climates, but in the tropics 



FIG. 97. White ant (Termes flavipes). a, larva; b, winged male; c, 

 worker ; d, soldier ; e, queen ; /, pupa. From Riley. 



they become a terrible pest. The queen is kept a prisoner 

 in the nest, is fed by the workers, and develops* so many 

 eggs that her abdomen is swollen out of all proportion. 

 As the eggs escape they are cared for by the workers. 



ORDER IV. NEUROPTERA. 



These forms have the wings much as in the Pseudonen- 

 roptera, the mouth-parts for biting or much reduced, but 

 they have a complete metamorphosis. The majority of 

 these forms are inconspicuous, and their existence is hardly 

 recognized except by naturalists. Here belong the "dob- 



