SOME INSECT COMMUNITIES 57 



to get out of their way ; and should they enter a 

 house, they will quickly and most effectually 

 clear it of all rats, mice, cockroaches, and other 

 vermin, and the human inhabitants will be 

 obliged to quit it until the Driver Ants march 

 out again in search of fresh fields to conquer. 



The Termites, or so-called White Ants of the 

 tropics, are not Ants at all, for they belong to 

 the Order Neuroptera, and do not undergo com- 

 plete metamorphosis, whereas the true Ants all 

 pass through a complete metamorphosis, and 

 belong to the Order Hymenoptera. Like the 

 true Ants, however, the Termites are social in 

 their habits, living in large communities and 

 building nests and hills, which frequently assume 

 considerable proportions, and in some parts of 

 Africa form quite a characteristic feature of the 

 landscape. It is on account of their social and 

 nest-building habits, coupled with the somewhat 

 Ant-like appearance of the wingless workers, 

 that the Termites have gained their popular 

 misnomer of White Ants. 



A community of Termites is composed of a 

 vast number of small workers, a limited number 

 of big-headed and powerful jawed soldiers, a 

 fertile queen, and a king or fully developed male ; 

 in fact, a community very similar to that of the 

 true Ants. This similarity, however, is only of 

 a superficial character, for while the different 

 types of workers in a true Ant community are 

 practically all neuters or imperfectly developed 

 females, in the Termite community they are 

 males and females,, who remain sexually 

 immature throughout their lives. Professor 



