INSECTS. jg-j- 



developed. These are the workers, and on them the whole labor of the 

 colony falls. They collect the food and prepare it, excavate the mines, 

 build the hills, care for the males and females, and take charge of the eggs 

 and young. In these respects they closely compare to the workers among 

 the bees and ants, except in lacking wings. Last in order come the soldiers, 



Fig. 172. — Worker of the white ant. Fig. 173. — Soldier of the white ant. 



individuals with large heads and jaws, whose duty it is to guard the colony. 

 There are usually about a hundred workers to one soldier. 



For a large proportion of our facts regarding the habits of the white 

 ants we are indebted to Smeathman, who over a century ago published a 

 paper entitled 'Some Account of the Termites which are found in Africa 

 and other Hot Countries.' Many of his facts have long been accepted, but 

 others have been doubted. It turns out, however, that his accuracy was 

 even greater than has been supposed, and later observers have confirmed 

 almost all of his statements. To better understand the life history and 

 economy of the termites, let us follow a colony through one cycle of its 

 existence. 



From the eggs hatch out the numerous young, which are carefully 

 attended and fed by the workers. Some stop short in their development, 

 and change into the workers and soldiers, while the others go on, grow the 

 wings, and become the perfect males and females, which fly aboul for a 

 short time. From these perfect insects the workers choose a king and 

 queen, and carefully wall them up in a small clay chamber, leaving but a 

 single, small opening through which the soldiers and workers can readily 

 pass, but which is not large enough for the royal couple to pass. The other 

 perfect insects not so selected soon die. Inside the regal chamber the king 

 and queen are carefully fed by the workers, and here the royal marriage 

 takes place. The queen now loses her wings, and with the growth of the 

 eggs her abdomen becomes distended to an enormous size in comparison 

 with which the head and thorax seem insignificant. Soon the egg-laying 

 begins and continues at the rate of sixty a minute. These eggs arc taken 

 charge of by the workers as fast as they are deposited, and canard to a 

 special chamber or nursery, where they soon hatch, and tin- cycle is thus 

 complete. 



We have some four or five species of termites in the United States, one 

 of which extends as far north and east as Cambridge and Salem. .Mass.. but 

 is far more abundant farther south. This form constructs its mines in 



