376 NEUROPTERA chap. 



Food, or the mode of feeding, or both combined, are, according 

 to the Italian naturalist, the source of all the distinctions, 

 except those of sex, that we see in the forms of any one species 

 of Termite. 



Feeding. Such knowledge as we possess of the food-habits 

 of Termitidae is chiefly due to Grassi ; it is of the very greatest 

 importance, as giving a clue to much that was previously obscure 

 in the Natural History of these extraordinary creatures. 



In the abodes of the Termites, notwithstanding the enormous 

 numbers of individuals, cleanliness prevails ; the mode by which 

 it is attained appears to be that of eating all refuse matter. 

 Hence the alimentary canal in Termitidae contains material of 

 various conditions of nutritiveness. These Insects eat their cast 

 skins and the dead bodies of individuals of the community ; even 

 the material that has passed through the alimentary canal is 

 eaten again, until, as we may presume, it has no further nutritive 

 power.- The matter is then used for the construction of their 

 habitations or galleries, or is carried to some unfrequented part 

 of the nest, or is voided by the workers outside of the nests ; 

 the pellets of frass, i.e. alimentary rejectamenta, formed by 

 the workers frequently betraying their presence in buildings 

 when none of the Insects themselves are to be seen. The 

 aliments of Calotermes JlavicoUis are stated by Grassi and 

 Sandias to be as follows: (1) wood; (2) material passed 

 from the posterior part of the alimentary canal or regurgi- 

 tated from the anterior part; (3) the matter shed during 

 the moults; (4) the bodies of other individuals; (5) the 

 secretion of their own salivary glands or that of their fellows ; 

 (6) water. Of these the favourite food is the matter passed . 

 from the posterior part of the alimentary canal. We will speak of 

 this as proctodaeal food. When a Calotermes wishes food it strokes 

 the posterior part of another individual with the antennae and 

 palpi, and the creature thus solicited yields, if it can, some 

 proctodaeal food, which is then devoured. Yielding the proctodaeal 

 food is apparently a reflex action, as it can be induced by friction 

 and slight pressure of the abdomen with a small brush. The 

 material yielded by the anterior part of the alimentary canal may 

 be called stomodaeal product. It makes its appearance in the 

 mouth in the form of a microscopic globule that goes on in- 

 creasing in size till about one millimetre in diameter, when it is 



