THE KING AND QUEEX. 



fig. 1 and fig. 2 ; the former representing the species called the 

 Termes embia, with its wings expanded, and the latter the Termes 

 fatalis or bellicosus, with its wings folded. 



4. With the exception of two or three small species, such as the 

 Termes lucifugus, described by Latreille and Rossi ; the Termes 



Jlavicollis, described by Fabricius ; and the Termes Jlavipes, de- 

 scribed by Kollar, these insects are confined chiefly to the tropics. 



5. Each society consists of five orders of individuals 



I. The queen or female. 

 II. The king or male. 



III. The workers. 



IV. The nymphs. 



V. The neuters or soldiers. 



The Termes betticosus or fatalis, which is represented in fig. 2, 

 with wings folded, is shown in fig. 3 with wings expanded. 



The king or male, which never changes its form after losing its 

 wings, is represented in fig. 4. 



6. The worker is represented in its natural size in fig. 5, and 

 the soldier in fig. 6. 



A magnified view of the worker is given in fig. 7, and a similar 

 magnified view of the forceps of the soldier in fig. 8. 



7. The king and queen are privileged individuals, surrounded 

 with all the respect and consideration, and receiving all the 

 attendance and honours, due to sovereigns. Exempted from all 

 participation in the common industry of the society, they are 

 wholly devoted to increase and multiplication, the queen being 

 endowed with the most unbounded fertility. Though upon first 

 passing from the pupa state they have four wings, they lose 

 these appendages almost immediately, and during the period of 

 their sovereignty they are wingless. They are distinguished from 

 the inferior members of the society by the possession of organs of 

 vision, in the form of large and prominent eyes, their subjects 

 being all of them blind. 



8. The workers are by far the most numerous members of the 

 society, being about a hundred times greater in number than the 

 soldiers. Their bodies also, fig. 5, are less than those of the sol- 

 diers, the latter being less than those of the sovereigns. The 

 entire industrial business of the society is performed by the workers. 

 They erect the common habitation, and keep it in repair. They 

 forage and collect provisions for the society. They attend upon 

 the sovereigns, and carry away the eggs of the queen, as fast 

 as she deposits them, to chambers which they previously prepare 

 for them. They maintain these chambers in order, and when the 

 eggs are hatched, they perform the part of nurses to the young, 



H 2 99 



