CHAPTER IV 



TERMITES OR WHITE ANTS 



HE would be a churl indeed who failed to admire the 

 work of the early naturalists for, with primitive apparatus 

 and often limited fields of study, they greatly advanced 

 our knowledge of the animal kingdom. Nevertheless, 

 these one-time worthies were anything but happy in their 

 choice of names. Misnomers are as common in the insect 

 world as mites on a seasoned cheese. The insects known 

 as green, dragon or may flies respectively are not flies at 

 all, and there are many still more flagrant misnomers. 

 The common black beetle is neither black nor a beetle ; 

 white ants are neither white nor are they ants. How 

 white ants earned their name we do not know ; probably 

 the fact that they are social insects, living in colonies 

 after the manner of true ants, may have something 

 to do with it. At anyrate, they are not related to 

 the true ants, but to the dragon and may flies. To 

 scientists, sticklers all for accuracy, white ants are 

 known as termites, and that is the name we will use, 

 for it has the merit of brevity, in addition to being 

 more correct. 



At the risk of labouring the question of the non- 

 relationship of ants to termites, we will mention one 

 important point of difference. Our readers will remember 

 that we mentioned the great care bestowed by ants on 

 their helpless, footless grubs. Termites, on the other 

 hand, do not pass through all the changes usual to insects ; 

 they skip some of the stages and, instead of being grubs, 

 unable to fend for themselves, the young ones are as 

 active as their parents, in fact they are miniatures of the 

 adults. Each termite community is made up of winged 



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