THE WHITE ANTS, BOOK-LICE, AND BIRD-LICE 



105 



times natural size) 

 (After Kellogg) 



buildings, whose wooden foundations are then attacked and often 

 so mined as to necessitate their removal. Such instances are more 

 common in the South, but even in the North porch timbers are 

 often attacked, and now and then the white ants invade a building 

 and thoroughly tunnel the studding and even 

 the lathing. The workers of both sexes are 

 wingless, of a dirty white color, and busy 

 themselves in building their nests, caring for 

 the young termites, and securing food for 

 the whole colony. The soldiers are also of 

 A psocid (side koth sexes, wingless, and resemble the work- 

 view), showing position of ers, except that the heads are of immense 

 wings at rest. (Thirteen s i ZCj being frequently as large as the rest of 

 the body, and bear very strong mandibles, 

 which form effective weapons. The kings 

 and queens are really merely fathers and mothers, for they produce 

 the colony but do not rule it. In early summer the kings (males) 

 and queens (females) swarm forth from the nest and, after a short 

 flight, shed their wings. Individual males 

 and females now mate and are ready to start 

 a new colony, but unless they are found and 

 established by some workers they perish, and 

 thus only few of them ever survive. If a 

 pair are .fortunate enough to be discovered 

 by some workers, they are provided with 

 food and are imprisoned in a circular cell. 

 The queen now commences to develop eggs, 

 and her body enlarges enormously, finally 

 becoming nothing but a huge sack, often 

 six inches long, filled with eggs. She is fed 

 by the workers, who carry away the eggs and 

 rear the young, which resemble the adults in 

 general form. Thus the domestic economy 

 of these colonies is hardly less interesting than that of the true ants. 

 Book-lice. In neglected libraries or in old books which have been 

 stored are to be found the tiny book-lice (Psocidae} which feed upon 

 the paper bindings. They are exceedingly wise-looking little insects 

 when examined with a lens, having all the appearance of being 



FIG. 137. A wingless book- 

 louse M/ (Greatly 



(After Kellogg) 



