TRACHEATA 343 
which are apparently functionless. The neuters may be 
workers with small rounded heads, or soldiers with greatly 
enlarged heads and most formidable mandibles. 
Fic. 194.—White Ant (Termes bellicosus). 
A. Winged male, B. Soldier, C. Queen. 
The communities live as a rule underground ; some species 
construct nests of such size and strength as to serve as watch- 
towers for the big game of South Africa. These nests are 12 
to 15 feet in height. Others live on tree-trunks, etc., and 
cover the branches with little tunnels built of pellicles of clay 
which they bring up from below, and line with excrement. 
They invariably work in the dark, building the tunnels from 
the inside; if anything breaks down part of their work, the 
workers disappear, and the powerful “soldiers” take their place 
and defend their home. 
Those of the larvae which are not destined to become 
workers or soldiers acquire wings, and a few weeks afterwards 
they leave the nest, and pair whilst flying in the air. They 
then fall to the ground and lose their wings; in this condition 
a number of them perish, but some of them, guided by a few 
