394 



NATURE S TEACHINGS. 



As everybody is aware, the object of the coop is to keep the 

 hen within its bars, while the little chicks can run in and out 

 as they choose, and the coop is made so as to prevent the egress 

 of the mother, while the offspring find no difficulty in 

 escaping. 



Now, in the world of insects we find an exactly analogous 

 structure. As is the case with many hymenopterous insects, 

 there is in the nest of the Termite, or White Ant, as it is 

 popularly called, a single perfect female, which is the mother of 

 the nest. A similar arrangement occurs in the common hive- 

 bee, but there is a notable distinction between the queen Bee 



QUEEX TERMITE IN HER CELL. 



HEN IN HER COOP. 



and the queen Termite, the latter belonging to the neuropterous 

 order. 



The former is unconfined, and moves about from cell to cell, 

 depositing her eggs within them, and taking the greatest pains 

 that they occupy exactly their proper place within the cell. The 

 latter never moves after she has begun to deposit eggs, but 

 remains motionless in the same spot, and allows her subordi- 

 nates to dispose of the eggs which she lays. 



How this end is achieved will now be seen. 



The reader is probably aware that the queen Termite attains 

 to enormous dimensions, her head, thorax, and legs retaining 

 their normal size, but the abdomen becoming several inches in 

 length, and thick in proportion. The legs are necessarily 

 unable to move so vast a body, and in order that so important 

 a personage should not receive injury, a large oval cell is built 

 around her, from which she never moves for the rest of her 

 life. She has but one duty, namely, to lay eggs, and so is fed 



