68 SANTAREM. Chap. I. 



become winged insects. The workers and soldiers feed 

 on decayed wood and other vegetable substances ; I 

 could not clearly ascertain what the young fed upon, 

 but they are seen of all sizes, larvae and pupae, huddled 

 together in the same cells, with their heads converging 

 towards the bottom, and I thought I sometimes de- 

 tected the workers discharging a liquid from their 

 mouths into the cells. The growth of the young family 

 is very rapid, and seems to be completed within the 

 year : the greatest event of Termite life then takes 

 place, namely, the coming of age of the winged males 

 and females, and their exit from the hive. 



It is curious to watch a Termitarium when this exodus 

 is taking place. The workers are set in the greatest 

 activity, as if they were aware that the very existence 

 of their species depended on the successful emigration 

 and marriages of their brothers and sisters. They clear 

 the way for their bulky but fragile bodies, and bite 

 holes through the outer walls for their escape. The 

 exodus is not completed in one day, but continues until 

 all the males and females have emerged from their pupa 

 integuments, and flown, away. It takes place on moist, 

 close evenings, or on cloudy mornings : they are much 

 attracted by the lights in houses, and fly by myriads 

 into chambers, filling the air with a loud rustling noise, 

 and often falling in such numbers that they extinguish 

 the lamps. Almost as soon as they touch ground they 

 wriggle off their wings, to aid which operation there is 

 a special provision in the structure of the organs, a seam 

 running across near their roots and dividing the horny 

 nervures. To prove that this singular mutilation was 



