ARTHROPODS. CLASS INSECTS 



121 



species her body becomes so enormously distended with 

 these that she loses the power of locomotion and requires 

 to be fed. A single queen has been known to lay eggs at 

 the rate of sixty per minute (eighty thousand a day), and 



FIG. 73. Termites or white ants, a, queen ; b, winged male ; c, worker; d, soldier. 



those destined to royal rank are so nursed that they advance 

 farther in their development than the remaining sterile 

 and wingless forms. 



118. The bugs (Hemiptera). .The large and varied group 

 of the bugs (Hemiptera) includes a number of semi-aquatic 

 species, such as the water-boatmen, often seen rowing 

 themselves along in the ponds by means of a pair of oar- 

 shaped legs, in search of other insects. Somewhat similar 

 at first sight are the back-swimmers, with like rowing 

 habits, but unique in swimming back downward. Both of 

 these bugs frequently float at the surface, and when about 

 to undertake a subaquatic journey they may be seen to 

 imprison a bubble of air to take along. Closely related are 

 the giant water-bugs (Fig. 74), which often fly from pond 

 to pond at night. In such flights they are frequently 



