350 



TRANSFORMATIOXS OF INSECTS. 



country in Ceylon is undermined by them. In Western Africa 

 they resemble the common or ants proper in their habits. Like 

 them they are composed of three kinds of individuals, males, 

 females, and neuters or workers. They erect dwellings in the form 

 of pyramids or cones; and Termes bdlicosus builds them up to 

 a height of three or four yards, and flanks the edifices with little 

 towers, and constructs them so solidly that several men may stand 

 upon them without falling through. The neuters or soldiers, which 

 are very large and have great jaws, are always ready to attack 

 anybody molesting their habitations. Each house or community 

 consists of a king and queen and labourers and the soldiers, 

 and there are about a hundred of the labourers to each soldier. 

 The military Termes appear to be labourers in a further state 



A FEMALE Termes FROM the African coast. 



of development. The males and females are possessed of wings, 

 and at the proper time they issue forth from the nest in immense 

 numbers and take their flight. They begin to emigrate at the 

 commencement of the rainy season, and as their wings are not 

 strong, and are only calculated to carry them for a few hours, 

 the number that perish by the heavy rains is enormous. It is 

 said that perhaps not more than one pair out of many thousands 

 reach a place of safety. The fortunate pair which do succeed 

 are generally found by some of the labouring insects — which are 

 continually running over the surface of the ground in the neigh- 

 bourhood of their covered galleries — and are immediately elected 

 king and queen of a new colony. The queen lays about sixty 

 eggs in a minute, or 80,000 or upwards in the course of twenty- 

 four hours, and they are instantly taken away by the others 



