CADDIS-FLIES. 



109 



so attacked continue to look substantial externally, they fall to pieces at the 

 slightest touch. If compelled to leave their domicile, they construct tubes or 

 covered ways as they proceed, so that they always work concealed from 



FIG. 103. MALE TERMITE. 



observation. Sometimes they raise edifices above the ground in the shape of 

 pyramids or towers, occasionally surmounted by a solid roof: these habita- 

 tions, both from their dimensions and their numbers, might easily be mistaken 

 for villages. Together with the labourers, each community contains a number 

 ut individuals called neuters, or soldiers, to whom the defence of the colony is 



FIG. 104. QUEEN TERMITE (NATURAL SIZE). 



intrusted : these are at once distinguishable from the large size of their heads 

 and ponderous jaws. Besides the above, there are winged males, and a queen 

 or fertile female, whose fecundity surpasses anything elsewhere known in the 

 animal creation. Arrived at their perfect state, they all become possessed of 

 wings, and issuing forth in countless numbers by night, cover the country as 

 with a living deluge. The rising sun however, dries their wings, and they 

 become a prey to numerous enemies, to whom they serve as food. 



The Caddis-Flies (Phryganea\ * which, like' the May-flies are among 

 the best friends of the fly -fisher are usually placed among the Neuropterous 

 insects, although the nervures of their wings can scarcely be said to form a 

 network.f Their economy in the early stages of their growth is very curious. 

 The larva, which is peculiarly constructed, forms for its residence a tubular 

 case, made of minute shells, stones, seeds, bits of stick or bark, fragments of 

 the stems of water-plants, and similar matters, which it arranges around its 

 body, fixing them by means of a glutinous silk, which also lines the tube. 

 Numbers of these cases may often be seen at the bottom of pebbly streams, 

 with the head and feet of the larva protuding from one end as it crawls about 



* fpiywoy, phryganon, a dry stick. f Some authors constitute a distinct Order 



for them, under the name of Trichoptera, or Hairy- winged Insects. 



