Chap. I. WHITE ANTS. 67 



kinds which get into houses and destroy furniture, 

 books, and clothing. All hives do not contain a queen 

 and her partner. Some are new constructions, and, 

 when taken to pieces, show only a large number of 

 workers occupied in bringing eggs from an old over- 

 stocked Termitarium, with a small detachment of 

 soldiers evidently told off for their protection. 



A few weeks before the exodus of the winged males 

 and females a completed Termitarium contains Termites 

 of all castes and in all stages of development. On 

 close examination I found the young of each of the 

 four orders of individuals crowded together, and ap- 

 parently feeding in the same cells. The full-grown 

 workers showed the greatest attention to the young 

 larvae, carrying them in their mouths along the galleries 

 from one cell to another, but they took no notice of the 

 full-grown ones. It was not possible to distinguish the 

 larvae of the four classes when extremely young, but at 

 an advanced stage it was easy to see which were to 

 become males and females, and which workers and 

 soldiers. The workers have the same form throughout, 

 the soldiers showed in their later stages of growth the 

 large head and cephalic processes, but much less deve- 

 loped than in the adult state. The males and females 

 were distinguishable by the possession of rudimentary 

 wings and eyes, which increased in size after three 

 successive changes of skin. 



Thus I think I made out that the soldier and worker 

 castes are, like the males and females, distinct from the 

 egg ; they are not made so by a difference of food or 

 treatment during their earlier stages, and they never 



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