588 NEUKOPTERA. 



diers, as they are termed by Sineathman, with their warlike 

 aspect, act as "sentinels and soldiers, making their appearance 

 when the nest is invaded, attacking the intruders and inciting 

 the laborers to work. The more peaceful and laborious 

 workers are estimated to be one- hundred times more numerous 

 than the soldiers." "They collect food, form covered ways. 

 guard the males and females and take care of the eggs arid 

 young." (Westwood.) While most of the species burrow in 

 wood, or under ground, others, as in the Termes fatale Linn. 

 (T. bellicosus Smeathman) , raise conical hillocks of remarkable 

 strength and firmness, often ten or twelve feet high. After 

 impregnation the females, as in the case of the ants, lose their 

 wings. They are then conducted into the interior of the nest 

 by the workers. Here the body of the female gradually be- 

 comes enormously distended with eggs, being over two inches 

 in length, and it is known to lay 80,000 in the course of a day. 

 The pupa of Termes lucifiigus, a French species, was found 

 by Latreille in the spring, with four white tubercles, or wing 

 pads. Other pupae are described and figured by "Westwood, 

 which by their long wing-pads, prolonged bej-ond the abdomen, 

 closely resemble the Homopterous adult Cercopidce . Fossil 

 Termites occur in the coal formation of Germany. 



EMBID^E Burmeister. These are small insects, forming a 

 connecting link between the white ants and Psocus ; they are 

 characterized by the linear depressed body, with the head free 

 from the thorax, the wings equal in size, with few veins, and 

 inarticulate tarsi. The larvae are found under stones arid are 

 protected by a cocoon which they renew at each moulting of 

 the skin. (Gerstaecker.) Embia Savigni Westwood is found 

 in K.irypt. 



A species of Olyntha? the only genus of this family found 

 in North Anicrir.-i. i> >iated by Hag' n to occur in Cuba. 



PSOCIDJE Leach. These minute insects would be easily mis- 

 taken for Aphi-les. \>"\\\ the wingless as well as the winged 

 individuals. Their bodies are oval, the head free from the 

 pro thorax, which is small and partially concealed by the Mings. 

 The wings are unequal in si/.e. and with lew veins, thus depart- 



