382 NEUROPTERA 



and queen. The huge edifices of this species described by 

 Smeathman are clearly the result of many years of labour, and at 

 present substitution royalties are not known to occur in them, 

 so that it is not improbable Smeathman may prove to be correct 

 even on this point, and that in the case of some species mature 

 individuals may re-enter the nest after swarming and may become 

 royal couples. On the whole, however, it appears probable that 

 communities of long standing are kept up by the substitution 

 royalty system, and that new communities when established are 

 usually founded by a pair from a swarm, which at first are not 

 in that completely helpless condition to which they come when 

 they afterwards reach the state of so-called royalty. Grassi's 

 observations as to the sources of food remove in fact one of the 

 difficulties that existed previously in regard to the founding of 

 new colonies, for we now know that a couple may possibly bear 

 with them a sufficient supply of proctodaeal and stomodaeal 

 aliment to last them till workers are hatched to feed them, and 

 till soldiers are developed and the community gradually assumes 

 a complex condition. Professor Perez has recently obtained ^ the 

 early stages of a community from a winged pair after they had 

 been placed in captivity, unattended by workers. MuUer's 

 observation, previously quoted, is no doubt correct in relation 

 to the complete helplessness of royal pairs after they have 

 been such for some time ; but that helplessness is itself only 

 gradually acquired by the royal pair, who at first are able to 

 shift for themselves, and produce a few workers without any 

 assistance. 



Anomalous Forms. Mtiller has described a Calotermes under 

 the name of C. rugosus, which is interesting on account of the 

 peculiar form of the young larva, and of the changes by which 

 it subsequently becomes similar in form to other species of the 

 genus. We represent the development of this larva in Fig. 

 237. We may call attention to the fact that this figure illus- 

 trates the large size of the paunch, which is so extraordinary 

 in some of the states of the Termitidae. 



It will be recollected that the genus Calotermes is destitute 

 of workers. There is another genus, Anoplotermes, in which the 

 reverse condition prevails, and the soldier is absent; this is the 

 only case yet known in which such a state of affairs exists. 



^ CR. Ac. Paris, cxix. 1894, p. 8.04. 



