CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERMITES. 27 



Nevertheless a few crucial tests have given results entirely 

 in accordance with the above induction. These are : — 



1. Transformation into a soldier larva, and subsequently 

 into a soldier, can take place at very various ages. 



As in Calotermes, the soldier may originate from ex- 

 amples with from twelve to seventeen antennal joints, and 

 therefore of very different sizes and with or without rudiments 

 of wings (see § 2). Newly formed soldiers are therefore to 

 be found of different dimensions (small, medium, and large), 

 and with a variable number of antennal joints. 



The small soldier is an inhabitant of newly established 

 nests which experience the want of soldiers, and therefore 

 anticipate their development. 



2. Various observers have found soldiers with more or less 

 well-marked wing-rudiments in the nests of exotic Termitidse, 

 and have regarded them as an inexplicable abnormality. My 

 belief, on the contrary, is that their development is the result 

 of unusual or extraordinary nutrition, and is in harmony with 

 my previous statements. If it be correct, it should be possible 

 to put Termitidse under siich conditions as would compel them 

 to produce similar monstrosities. That such a thing is really 

 possible is shown by the following experiments. 



*In winter small Calotermite nests of nymphs alone, and 

 therefore free from soldiers, are established in tubes containing 

 triturated wood, and are kept in a warm place, in the pocket 

 or near a stove.^ After a time they are found to contain not 

 merely a certain number of nymphs in process of becoming 

 royal substitutes, but others as well, which are being trans- 

 formed into soldiers, and are distinguished especially by an 

 elongation of the mandibles and labrum as well as by the 

 greater size of the head. The "wings are simultaneously re- 

 absorbed until barely a vestige remains. These nymph-soldiers, 

 as they may be termed, become perfect soldiers after an ecdysis. 

 It cannot be positively stated that all succeed in reaching the 



* It should be added that the development of Termitidae kept in a warm 

 place proceeds even during the winter, the queens prematurely laying eggs, 

 which hatch precociously, &c. 



