35 2 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



ing galleries, built up with particles of earth or vegetable matter, cemented 

 together with the saliva of the insects." Many of "the very large hillocks 

 are the work of many distinct species, each of which uses materials differ- 

 ently compacted, and keeps to its own portion of the tumulus." 



A family of Termites consists of a king and queen, of the workers, and 

 of the soldiers. According to the researches of Lespes, Bates, and Fritz 



Fig. 186. Termites (Termes bellicosus}. a King, before the wings are cast off; 

 b Queen, with the abdomen distended with eggs ; c Worker ; d Soldier. 



Miiller, the workers and soldiers amongst the Termites are not sterile 

 females, but modified larva:, which belong to both sexes, and are arrested 

 in their development (or, rarely, males and females in which the reproduc- 

 tive organs are rudimentary). Fritz Miiller has further discovered that, 

 in addition to the winged males and females which are periodically pro- 

 duced in great numbers, there exists in some, if not in all, of the species a 

 second set of males and females, which are destitute of wings. These 

 complementary males and females never leave the termitary in which they 

 are born ; and they may take the place of the winged males and females 

 whenever a community fails to secure a rojial couple at the proper period. 

 The royal couple are the parents of the colony, and "are always kept to- 

 gether, closely guarded by a detachment of workers, in a large chamber in 

 the very heart of the hive, surrounded by much stronger walls than the 

 other cells. They are both wingless, and immensely larger than the 

 workers and soldiers. The queen, when in her chamber, is always found 

 in a gravid condition, her abdomen enormously distended with eggs, 

 which, as fast as they come forth, are conveyed, by a relay of workers, in 

 their mouths, from the royal chamber to the minor cells dispersed through 

 the hive." 



At the beginning of the rainy season a number of winged males and 

 females are produced, which, when they arrive at maturity, leave the hive, 

 and fly abroad. They then shed their wings (a special provision for this 

 existing in a natural seam running across the root of the wing and dividing 

 the nervures) ; they pair, and then become the kings and queens of future 

 colonies. 



The workers and the soldiers are distinct from the moment of their 

 emergence from the egg, and they do not acquire their special characteris- 

 tics in consequence of any difference of food or treatment. Both are wing- 



