TERMITES OR WHITE ANTS. (i7l 



Blindness aniong'st the soldiers tmd workers is more universal tliun 

 it is in ants. There seems no reason to doubt that the blindness is 

 connected with the mode of life. The impossibilitj" of attributing- the 

 blindness to the inherited effects of disuse, seeing- that none of the 

 parents in any of the species are blind, utterly discredits such an 

 explanation in the case of othei* blind animals. 



In all the castes the abdomen varies greatly in size and appearance, 

 according' to the nature of the contents. 



The winged imagos have an unconquerable desire to leave the nest 

 and to run the risk of dangers from Avhich not one in many thousands 

 escapes. By this means it is that inter])reeding and distribution are 

 effected. Dr. Fritz Miiller aptly compared the winged individuals 

 to perfect flowers, and the neoteinic individuals to cleistogamic 

 flowers. The comparison may l)e carried a step further. In temper- 

 ate climates the winged forms appear in early sunmier. In equato- 

 rial regions they appear for the most part in sinudtaneous swarms at 

 favorable seasons, while in some species they seem to be constantly 

 produced in small numbers the whole year round. The problems of 

 when to swarm and how many imagos to produce seem to be solved 

 in nearl}' the same ways as the problems of when to flow(>r and how 

 many flowers to produce. 



They fly but feebly, allowing themselves to be carried by the wind, 

 and could scarcely cross more than a mile or two of water. 



The wings are soon shed across a transverse bii.-al line. The method 

 of breaking off' the wings is to elevate them. This will be found 

 effective in dead insects. The live insect uses its legs and al)domen to 

 elevate its wings, or in othtu' cases pushes them against some object; 

 yet in some cases the live insect will shed all four wings with inexpli- 

 cable rapidity. Their wings not oidy prevent their burying them- 

 selves and hiding, but on a perfectly level surface are a danger to 

 them, for birds are seen to pick up those with wings in preference to 

 those without. 



At the time of swarming the males and females of the genus Term.es 

 pair, the male following the female and often clinging to her abdomen, 

 l)ut there are no copulatory organs, and the sexual organs are not at 

 that stage mature. In T< rmopxix and C<ihtf<riii<s it seems that the 

 males and females do not rim about in pairs. 



In most if not in all species a pair of ternutes can found a nest 

 without assistance. Smeathman, however, >tates that m T. hellico^us 

 such pairs are protected by an\' soldiers aiu. workers who may And 

 them, and are by them treated as kmgs and (jueens. ■ • 



The females do not differ from the males in head ;ind thorax, 

 though careful measurements may tind the male to be the smaller. 

 The abdomen of the females becomes at the last molt different from 

 that of the males on account of a characteristic change in the ventral 



