ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — NEUROPTERA. 6^^ 



deal more extensively with it. There are seven species found in 

 the United States, of which fovir are confined to the Pacific Coast. None 

 of these are of large size, usually being from one sixth to one fourth of 

 an inch long. In the tropics, however, they attain a much larger size, 

 and are among the most destructive of insects, in some cases being so 

 destructive to wood that this material can be used very sparingly, if at 

 all, in buildings. Comstock gives the following account of the life of 

 the termites: 



"A remarkable thing about the white ants is the way they are 

 divided into classes, each class fitted to do a certain work for the colony. 

 First, there is the class of workers, which is constituted of both sexes ; 

 they are wingless and of a dirty-white color, and while they resemble 

 true ants somewhat, their waists are thicker. Their business is to 

 bring food for everybody, feed and bring up the young termites, and 

 build nests. Second, there is the class called soldiers ; these, too, are 

 of both sexes, and wingless, and look somewhat like the workers, only 

 their heads are tremendous in size, being often nearly as long as the 

 rest of the body, and their jaws are large and powerful. Third, is the 

 royal class, called ki)igs and queens. It would have been better to have 

 called them fathers and mothers, as they are the parents of the colony, 

 and do not rule it. This class when grown have wings, which lie flat 

 upon the back when at rest, and may be twice as long as the body. In 

 May or June in our common species this class swarms forth from all 

 the nests of the neighborhood. After a flight of some distance the 

 wings are shed, and a king chooses some queen near him and proposes 

 that they start a kingdom of their own. But like mortal kings and 

 queens they can not reign unless a kingdom is found for them, and so 

 millions of these royal pairs die because they have no subjects. But 

 sometimes a fortunate couple is discovered by some termite workers, 

 who at once take possession of the wanderers and provide them with 

 food and with shelter in the shape of a large circular shallow cell. In this 

 they are really imprisoned, but are well cared for. Soon the queen 

 or mother begins to develop eggs, and her body grows enormously. 

 Finally, it is nothing but a huge sac filled with eggs, looking more like 

 a potato than anything else, and is sometimes six or seven inches long. 

 Of course, the poor queen can not move herself in the least, and if she 

 were not fed would soon starve ; but her king remains devoted to her, 

 and her ladies and gentlemen in waiting do their best to make her com- 

 fortable ; they carry away the eggs to other chambers as soon as they 

 are laid, then care for the eggs, and feed the little ones when they are 

 hatched. The young termites are active, and resemble the adult in 

 form. If a nest becomes queenless, and the workers are unable to pro- 

 cure a queen, there are developed in the nest wingless sexual individ- 

 uals, which are termed complemental males and females. But as each 



