88 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



so-called royal couple, who have none of the pre- 

 rogatives of human royalties. 



The soldiers also are well named, for, like the 

 rank and file in our armies, their duty is to sacrifice 

 their lives for those who feed them. They were 

 formerly thought to be formidable and pugnacious, 

 but like the old-style Chinese army, accoutred to 

 make themselves appear hideous and so frighten 

 their opponents at sight, these soldier Termites 

 are not nearly so formidable as they look. They 

 are characterized by the great size of the head — in 

 some species this is larger than the body — which is 

 either developed into long spines and spears, or 

 the jaws are increased to an enormous length. But 

 all they can do when the termitarium is broken into 

 is to seize the intruder with their jaws and hang 

 on till they are destroyed, what time the more 

 important workers are getting safely away into the 

 narrow galleries and underground chambers where 

 no enemy can follow them. 



There are many species of Termites, and in the 

 space at our disposal it is impossible to give any 

 detailed account of them — a general statement of 

 their work as masons must suffice. They get their 

 living, it is true, as carpenters in the sense that they 

 cut up and consume as food timber and other 

 vegetable substances ; but in constructive work 

 they are masons. They drive mines and tunnels of 

 great length underground, connecting hill to hill, 

 but these tunnels are lined with masonry, and their 

 communities are housed in the huge permanent 



