THE GRASSHOPPER AND ITS ALLIES 11 



White ants, or termites (Fig. 10), while not true ants, 

 live a very similar social or communal life. They differ 

 from ants in the venation of the net-veined 

 wing (when present). White ants are most 

 abundant in the tropics, where they build 

 great conical nests of sand cemented by 

 their saliva ; but they are found also in 

 temperate countries. The common eastern 

 white ant (Termes flavipes} ranges from 



_. ' r . . FIG. 10. - Termes 



Massachusetts southward, and lives in jiavipes, white 

 wood or under stones. Three kinds or " ant -" Nat - 



size. Photo, by 



castes of white ants occur in any com- w. H. c. P. 

 munity : (1) workers, with small, round 

 heads and concealed mandibles ; (2) soldiers, with large, 

 square heads, and long, powerful mandibles ; and (3) the 

 royal class of kings and queens, which have wings until 

 after the marriage flight. At a certain time in May the 

 males and females from the various colonies fly forth 

 to mate, and thus an interbreeding takes place between 

 colonies. Only a few of the pairs, however, find workers 

 to aid them in establishing a new colony. The queen, 

 after she is established in a new hive, merely produces 

 young, the abdomen becoming immensely swollen and 

 elongated to fifteen centimetres with the eggs which are 

 about to be laid. In tropical countries the termites are 

 troublesome to man by injuring trees and devouring the 

 woodwork of houses. 



The order Neuroptera includes certain insects which 

 differ from the Orthoptera in having larvae very unlike 

 the adult, and in having a resting pupal stage in which 

 the metamorphosis into the adult is completed. There are 

 four membranous, clear, net- veined wings, and the mouth 



