306 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



scene to which lam eager to introduce you; but the following observations 

 of M. P. Huber on this subject are so just and striking, that I cannot re- 

 frain from copying them. 



" The history of insects that live in solitude consists of their generation, 

 their peculiar habits, the metamorphoses they undergo, their manner of 

 life under each successive form, the stratagems for the attack of their 

 enemies, and the skill with which they construct their habitation : but that 

 of insects which form numerous societies is not confined to some remark- 

 able proceedings, to some peculiar talent ; it offers new relations, which 

 arise from common interest, from the equality or superiority of rank, from 

 the part which each member supports in the society ; and all these relations 

 suppose a connection between the different individuals of which it con- 

 sists that can scarcely exist but by the intervention of language : for such 

 may be called every mode of expressing their wishes, their wants, and 

 even their ideas, if that name may be given to the impulses of instinct. It 

 would be difficult to explain in any other way that concurrence of all 

 wills to one end, and that species of harmony which the whole of their 

 institution exhibits." 



The great end of the societies of insects being the rapid multiplication of 

 the species, Providence has employed extraordinary means to secure the 

 fulfilment of this object, by creating a particular order of individuals in 

 each society, which, freed from sexual pursuits, may give themselves 

 wholly to labour, and thus absolve the females from every employment but 

 that of furnishing the society from time to time with a sufficient supply of 

 eggs to keep up the population to its proper standard. In the case of the 

 Termites, the office of working for the society, as these insects belong to 

 an order whose metamorphosis is semi- complete, devolves upon the larvae ; 

 the neuters, unless these should prove to be the Iarva3 of males, being the 

 soldiers of the community. 



From this circumstance perfect societies may be divided into two 

 classes; the first including those whose workers are larvce, and the second 

 those whose workers are neuters. 1 The white ants belong to the former 

 of these classes, and the social Hymenoptera to the latter. 



Before I begin with the history of the societies of white ants, I must 

 notice a remark that has been made applying to societies in general that 

 numbers are essential to the full development of the instinct of social 

 animals. This has been observed by Bonnet with respect to the beaver 2 ; 

 by Reaumur of the hive-bee ; and by M. P. Huber of the humble-bee. 3 

 Amongst hymenopterous social insects, however, the observation seems 

 not universally applicable, but only under particular circumstances ; for in 

 incipient societies of ants, humble-bees, and wasps, one female lays the 

 foundation of them at first by herself, and the first brood of neuters that is 

 hatched is very small. 



I have on a former occasion given you some account of the devastation 

 produced by the white ants, or Termites, the species of which constitute 



1 I employ occasionally the term neuters, though it is not perfectly proper, for 

 the sake of convenience; strictly speaking, they may rather be regarded as im- 

 perfect or sterile females. Yet, certainly, as the imperfection of their organisation 

 unfits them for sexual purposes, the term neuter is not absolutely improper. 



2 (Euv. ix. 163. 



3 M. P. Huber in Linn. Trans, vi. 25G. Reaum. v. 



