THE OPEN TYPE OF WING-GROWTH 81 



in spite of the similarity between their fore- and hindwings 

 which leads others to place them in a distinct order (Isoptera). 



A young termite, hatched from an egg laid by the " queen ' 

 or fertile female of the community, is strikingly like the winged 

 adult in its general body-form, but is broader proportionally 

 to its length. The head is widest at its hinder region and 

 tapers slightly towards the front where the feelers, with fewer 

 segments than in the adult, are inserted. The young termite 

 (Fig. 43 b) is blind, though small compound eyes are present 

 in the winged adult. The prothorax is constantly broader 

 than long, but the other two thoracic segments, relatively 

 elongate in the adult, are short in the young. After several 

 moults, wing-rudiments (Fig. 43 /) can be distinguished on the 

 mesothorax and metathorax, and the wings become, as usual, 

 fully developed after the final moult (pp. 68-9). Winged 

 termites are often found in great swarms in the tropical and 

 sub-tropical regions which they inhabit, and the majority of 

 such insects seem to fall a prey to birds. But those which 

 survive and pair become the parents (" kings" and " queens ") 

 of new family-societies ; spending their lives in a closed nest- 

 chamber, they no longer require wings and these organs are 

 shed after the nuptial flight, a transverse suture across the 

 wing-bases rendering their loss easy (Fig. 43 a). 



The chief interest afforded by termites to the nature-student, 

 is found perhaps in the enormous numbers of wingless members 

 of the societies which carry on the wonderful communistic 

 activities of the nest. These, all developed from closely 

 similar undifferentiated young, mostly belong to two well- 

 marked types : the worker (Fig. 43 c) and the soldier (Fig. 

 43 d). The worker is usually a small, blind, wingless insect 

 not markedly differing from the young form out of which it 

 develops. The soldier has an abnormally large head, with 

 very strong prominent mandibles ; members of this caste are 

 usually blind like the workers, but in some cases feeble eyes 

 are present. Workers or soldiers may belong to either sex ; 

 usually their reproductive organs remain in a rudimentary 

 state, but occasionally these become developed, this being 

 apparently a common condition among soldiers of the primitive 

 Archotermopsis , in which the accessory sexual characters may 

 also be apparent. And it is of especial interest to find that 

 6 



