ARTHROPODS. CLASS INSECTS 



137 



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. 79. 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. 



+~* i *T28. 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. 80), which often fly from pond 

 to pond at night. In such flights they are frequently 

 10 



