HISTORY OF THE TERMITE. 



379 



achieved tlie one brief fliglit of their lives. They live iu large 

 commimities, of which a single female is the centre, and are 

 accustomed to act in concert, according to certain signs which 

 they all understand. 



Our limited space will not permit more than a mere outline 

 of Termite history, but the following are the most salient points 

 to be observed in their economy : — 



When the perfect insects have matured their wings, they 

 issue into the open air for the first time in their lives, and take 

 to flight in such multitudes that the numbers of their milky- 

 wliite wings have been compared to flakes of snow during a 

 heavy storm. Myriads upon myriads perish, so numerous are 

 the enemies that are in wait for them and the dangers through 

 which they have to pass. The insect-eating birds hold high 

 revel on them, and man 

 himself is one of the most 

 inveterate destroyers of 

 the Termite, not because 

 they do him mischief, but 

 because they are so good 

 to eat. Not only do the 

 aborigines eat the Ter- 

 mites, but travellers or 

 colonists who have once 

 persuaded themselves to 

 try them as an article of 

 diet are sure to reckon 

 these insects among the 

 best luxuries of the table. 



Putting aside those which perish, we will follow the career of 

 a couple who have managed to evade their enemies and become 

 the founders of a new colony. 



When they issue into the air, they are ant-like, pale brown 

 insects, with two pairs of very large wings, which, when closed, 

 cross each other over the abdomen. The above illustration 

 represents the male of the common Termite, Tcrmcs dirus, 

 and the female is almost exactly like him, except that she is 

 rather larger and plumper in the body. Supposing a pair of 

 tliese insects to have met while they are on the wing, which is 

 the object of these aerial excursions, they descend to the ground, 



