THE INSECT WORLD 



termites, in which the social life of insects reaches one of its 

 peaks. The Embiids are able to spin silk which comes as a 

 viscous thread from hollow hairs in their forefeet. They 

 weave irregular chambers on or under the bark of trees and 

 there live together in groups of some size. The group includes 

 the developing young as well as a number of males and 

 females. The chief advantage is probably the protection 

 given by the communal web, since each individual finds its 

 own food. 



Other examples of maternal care which has developed into 

 rudimentary social behaviour are found in the earwigs and 

 in various beetles. The common earwig lays her eggs in a 

 small hole which she excavates in the ground. She sits with 

 them and turns them over occasionally and licks them. When 

 the mother is removed, the eggs always seem to die, probably 

 because a fungus grows on them when they are not cared for. 

 The young stay with the mother only for a few days after 

 hatching. Hinton has shown that one of the common British 

 rove beetles has rather similar behaviour. The female 

 excavates a chamber in a pat of cow-dung and lays her eggs 

 in it. She will defend them against intruders, including the 

 larger larvae of her own species. When the eggs hatch, the 

 young larvae stay with the female until just before their first 

 moult. 



Rather more elaborate social behaviour, in which the males 

 also share, is seen in several other kinds of beetle. The dung 

 beetles, some of whose habits were described by Fabre in his 

 book on the " Sacred Beetle ", are an example. In Geotrupes 

 typhoeus, which is found on some of the commons round 

 London, the male and female co-operate in digging a deep 

 burrow and in storing dung as food for the larvae. The 

 female, at any rate, stays with the young for most of their 

 development. In some of the other kinds of dung beetle 



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