362 NEUROPTERA 



they become royalties they are usually iiiiiiiature as regards 

 the condition of the anterior parts of the body, and are then 

 called by Grassi and others neoteinic, as is more fully explained 

 on p. 380. 



Swarms. As a result of the Termite economy large 

 numbers of superfluous individuals are frequently produced; 

 these, in the winged state, leave the community, forming swarms 

 which are sometimes of enormous extent, and are eagerly preyed 

 on by a variety of animals including even man. Hagen has 

 given particulars ^ of a swarm of T. flavipes in Massachusetts, 

 where the Insects formed a dark cloud ; they were accompanied 

 by no less than fifteen species of birds, some of which so gorged* 

 themselves that they could not close their beaks. 



There is but little metamorphosis in Termitidae. Young 

 Termites are very soft ; they have a thin skin, a dispropor- 

 tionately large head, and are of a peculiar white colour as if 

 filled with milk. This condition of milkiness they retain, not- 

 withstanding the changes of form that may occur during their 

 growth, until they are adult. The wings first appear in the 

 form of prolongations of the meso- and meta-nota, which increase 

 in size, the increment probably taking place at the moults. The 

 number of joints of the antennae increases during the develop- 

 ment ; it is effected by growth of the third joint and subsequent 

 division thereof; hence the joints immediately beyond the 

 second are younger than the others, and are usually shorter and 

 altogether more imperfect. The life-histories of Termites have 

 been by no means completely followed ; a fact we can well under- 

 stand when we recollect that these creatures live in communities 

 concealed from observation, and that an isolated individual cannot 

 thrive ; besides this the growth is, for Insects, unusually slow. 



Natural History. The progress of knowledge as to Ter- 

 mites has shown that profound differences exist in the economy 

 of different species, so that no fair general idea of their lives can 

 be gathered from one species. We will therefore briefly sketch 

 the economy, so far as it has been ascertained, in three species, 

 viz. Calotermes fiavicollis, Termes lucifugus, and T. hellicosus. 



Calotermes JlavicoUis inhabits the neighbourhood of the 

 Mediterranean Sea ; it is a representative of a large series of 

 species in which the peculiarities of Termite life are exhibited 



1 F. Boston Soc. xx. 1878, p. 118. 



