THE TERMITES 



although they deprive their hosts of a great part of their dwelling, 

 may possibly afford them some protection. 



But species of quite other classes of insects find their way into 

 the termites' nest. As among the ants, so among the termites we 

 find guests which, in appearance, and presumably even in their 

 odour, imitate their hosts. I myself found a remarkable beetle 

 which I recognized as such only because I happened to remember 

 Wasmann's illustration of the insect. It is a long, lanky creature, 

 with a soft abdomen, and two long membranous hind-wings, which, 

 as in the winged termites, stand out from the body, while the fore- 

 wings are small. Its unusually large eyes must help it to find its 

 way about in the dark nest, and it is quite ^^^^ ^^. 



possible that its termite-like form, which would ^^^W""*^^ 

 reassure its hosts on their examining it with ^^^^^.^ 

 their feelers, enables it to steal eggs and "^J^^^^^^^^ 



The Staphylinidae, of which, as we have ^fe^^^3-^^'t^?# 



seen, "defensive" forms occur in ants' nests, \^ar^ri^ 



are not unknown in the termitary. They are ^fir 



distinguished by their sohd scutum and flat D 



conical form, which makes it impossible for I 



the termites to seize hold of them. The genuine Fig. 38. — A Fly, the 



guests of the termites are for the most part f "^'* °^ *^^ Termites 

 J. .... , , , ^ , (Termitomastus lep- 



distmguished by a monstrous abdomen, the toproctus. W, W, 



back of which rises high above the level of wings transformed in- 

 the thorax, and bulges over the latter in front. *° handles. {Enlarged, 

 One beetle of this kind has been named the 



"Maid of Honour," on the supposition that the insect was ap- 

 pointed, on account of its "graceful figure," to keep the royal pair 

 company, and that the termites took a purely intellectual joy in its 

 comeliness ! Perhaps the discoverer of this beetle was thinking of the 

 Hottentot women, whose abnormally fat buttocks are reckoned a 

 beauty by the men of that race. 



It was once more Wasmann who corrected this all too poetical 

 assumption. According to him, the enlargement of the abdomen of 

 these guests of the termitary has no other purpose than to make the 

 insects fat, so that they constantly perspire, when they can be Hcked 

 by their sweet-toothed hosts. There are flies, too, which are received 

 as guests for the sake of their exudations. And these flies have really 

 touched the highest point of the evolution of insect guests. 



The transformation of the bodily form of these flies is so unpre- 



335 



