120 HABITUDES AND ATTITUDES 



A minute ant will overpower a termite twice 

 or three times its own size, seizing it from 

 behind round the middle, causing it to twist 

 and writhe, but never loosening its hold upon 

 the doomed victim. The social differentiation 

 of workers, soldiers, kings, and queens is the 

 same in the ant family and in the termite 

 family ; but the feeding-habits are quite differ- 

 ent, and termites do not keep slaves. The 

 nearer relationships of the termites are with 

 cockroaches and earwigs. Froggatt thinks that 

 the discovery of the giant termite from Port 

 Darwin, Mastotermes darwiniensis, "brings them 

 almost into touch with the family Blattidae." l 



Although termites do not employ slaves as 

 some ants do, yet they entertain guests which 

 are known as termitophilous insects, as dis- 

 tinguished from the myrmecophilous insects 

 which frequent ants' nests. Interesting exhibi- 

 tions of mimicry and other special adaptations 

 result from these associations. The phase of 

 mimicry which involves the assumption of the 

 ant-facies is called myrmecoidism by Wasmann. 

 He distinguishes passive mimicry, or the decep- 

 tive resemblance of the outward form, from active 

 mimicry, which consists in an imitation of the 

 behaviour of the hosts. The mimicry which has 



1 Walter W. Froggatt, "White Ants." Department of Agriculture, 

 New South Wales. Miscellaneous Publication No. 874, 1905 ; 

 containing a bibliography of papers dealing with Australian 

 termites. 



