PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. S3 



man calls the nurseries, and feeding the young larvas 

 till they are old enough to take care of themselves. 

 They are distinguished from the soldiers by their di- 

 minutive size, by their round heads and shorter man- 

 dibles. 



2. The nymphs or pupa?. These were not noticed by 

 Smeathman, who mistook the neuters for them : — they 

 differ in nothing from the larvffi, and probably are 

 equally active, except that they have rudiments of 

 wings, or rather tlie wings folded up in cases {Plero- 

 thecce). They were first observed by Latreille ; nor 

 did they escape the author of the MS. above alluded 

 to, who mistook them for a different kind of larvag. 



3. The neuters, erroneously called by Smeathraan 

 pupjp. These are much less numerous than the work- 

 ers, bearing the proportion of one to one hundred, and 

 exceeding them greatly in bulk. They are also di- 

 stinguishable by their long and large head, armed with 

 very long subidate mandibles. Their office is that of 

 sentinels ; and when the nest is attacked, to them is 

 committed the task of defending it. These neuters are 

 quite unlike those in the Hymeno'ptera perfect socie- 

 ties, which seem to be a kind of abortive females, and 

 there is nothing analogous to them in any other depart- 

 ment of Entomology. 



4. and 5. Males and females, or the insects arrived 

 at their state of perfection, and capable of continuing 

 the species. There is only one of each in every sepa- 

 rate society ; they are exempted from all participation 

 in the labours and employments occupying the rest of 

 the community, that they may be wholly devoted to 

 the furnishing of constant accessions to the population 



VOL. II. D 



