622 



HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



Termite Cell. 



Through these passages the workers are continually passing, 

 some entering with empty jaws, and others emerging, each hold- 

 ing between its mandibles an egg, which it is conveying to the 

 nurseries. So rapidly are the eggs laid, that the workers are fully 

 employed in carrying them out and placing them under the 

 charge of the nurses. 



The contrast in size between the workers and the queen can 

 easily be seen by reference to the illustration. At Fig. 5 is shown 

 the queen, and in the right hand of Fig. 1 is seen one of the 

 workers passing through the tunnel. None but the workers can 

 pass through so small an aperture, for the fighters or soldiers are 

 of very much greater size than the workers, as may be seen at 

 Fig. 4. 



The queen, however, is necessarily very much reduced in size, 

 as, if she had been drawn of her full dimensions, she would have 

 occupied the whole length of the drawing. Before she is im- 

 mured in the royal cell she is by no means a large insect, the ab- 



