Termites or White Ants 



much-persecuted creatures would soon be exterminated 

 were their young numbered even by hundreds. 



Thousands upon thousands of individuals never survive 

 the nuptial flight. Nature has wisely made provision for 

 this loss by seeing to it that not only shall the surviving 

 queens produce eggs innumerable, but also by the pro- 

 vision of supplementary queens in each colony. These 

 queens may be likened to the dormant buds of a tree 

 which only develop when the active shoots fail to grow 

 or are destroyed. They are always retained in the colony, 

 though their services may never be required. Should the 

 true queen die, however, they come to the rescue and 

 carry on her work, though to a much more limited 

 extent. In reality they are female workers which are fed 

 in a special manner so that they develop more than their 

 worker sisters, without, however, attaining to the dignity 

 of wings. 



After this digression let us turn our attention once 

 again to the royal cell. Its walls are pierced with dozens 

 of holes, through which a constant stream of workers 

 passes unceasingly. Those individuals entering the cell do 

 so empty-handed, or, to be more exact, empty-mouthed ; 

 the workers issuing from the cell each bear a single egg 

 in their mouths. With these they scurry off to the small 

 cells surrounding the queen's abode and hand over their 

 burdens to the nurses in waiting. The duties of the 

 nurses are highly specialised ; they pack the eggs in the 

 cells in such a manner that they may be freely ventilated ; 

 they attend to the temperature and moisture of the 

 surrounding atmosphere, by changing the position of the 

 eggs from time to time, by blocking up the entrances to 

 the cells and by various other devices they contrive to 

 keep the eggs under equable conditions till hatching-time. 

 No incubator was ever tended more carefully. Now their 

 duties are almost at an end, for the young termites are 

 early able to fend for themselves. 



During all this time it is hardly likely that the happy 



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