VOL. LXXI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. "J \ 



in fact, the same insects as the foregoing, only they have undergone a change of 

 form, and approached one degree nearer to the perfect state. They are now 

 much larger, being half an inch long, and equal in bulk to 15 of the labourers. 

 There is now likewise a most remarkable circumstance in the form of the head 

 and mouth; for in the former state the mouth is evidently calculated for gnawing 

 and holding bodies; but in this state, the jaws being shaped just like 2 very 

 sharp awls a little jagged, they are incapable of any thing but piercing or wound- 

 ing, for which purposes they are very effectual, being as hard as a crab's claw, 

 and placed in a strong horny head, which is of a nut-brown colour, which seems 

 to labour under great difficulty in carrying it : on which account perhaps the 

 animal is incapable of climbing up in perpendicular surfaces. 



The 3d order, or the insect in its perfect state, varies its form still more than 

 ever. The head, thorax, and abdomen, differ almost entirely from the same 

 parts in the labourers and soldiers ; and, besides, the animal is now furnished with 

 4 fine large brownish, transparent, wings, with which it is at the time of emigra- 

 tion to wing its way in search of a new settlement. In short, it differs so much 

 from its form and appearance in the other 2 states, that it has never been sup- 

 posed to be the same animal, but by those who have seen it in the same nest ; 

 and some of these have distrusted the evidence of their senses. It was so long 

 before Mr. S. met with them in the nests himself, that he doubted the informa- 

 tion which was given by the natives, that they belonged to the same family. 

 Indeed 20 nests may be opened without finding one winged ant ; for those are 

 to be found only just before the commencement of the rainy season, when they 

 undergo the last change, which is preparative to their colonization. Add to this, 

 they sometimes abandon an outward part of their building, the community 

 being diminished by some accident. Sometimes, too, different species of the real 

 ant (formica) possess themselves by force of a lodgement, and so are frequently 

 dislodged from the same nest, and taken for the same kind of insects. This is 

 often the case with the nests of the smaller species, which are often totally 

 abandoned by the termites, and completely inhabited by different species of ants, 

 cockroaches, scolopendrae, scorpions, and other vermin, fond of obscure retreats, 

 that occupy different parts of their roomy buildings. 



In the winged state they have also much altered their size as well as form. 

 Their bodies now measure between 6 and 7 tenths of an inch in length, their 

 wings being above 2-l inches from tip to tip, and they are equal in bulk to about 

 30 labourers, or 2 soldiers. They are now also furnished with 2 large eyes, one 

 on each side of the head, and very conspicuous ; if they have any before, they 

 are not easily to be distinguished. Probably in the ]st 2 states, their eyes, if 

 they have any, may be small like those of moles ; for as they live like these 

 animals always under-ground, they have as little occasion for these organs, and 



