132 



BRANCH ARTHROPODA 



nate enough to escape being eaten by birds finds a place for a nest, 

 or is taken possession of by workers, and a new colony is founded. 

 The males and females lose or divest themselves of their wings. 

 Termites usually feed upon rotten wood, but some species 

 attack soft plants and live wood, or even cloth, paper, and leather. 

 In Africa these insects sometimes build pyramidal nests twenty 

 feet high and form villages of them. They are so numerous 



Fig. 101. White ant (Termes flavipes): a, Larva; b, winged male; c, 

 worker; d, soldier; e, queen; /, pupa. (Riley.) 



and bold that " nothing can defy the marauders but tin or 

 iron." 1 Many species of insects have been found living a com- 

 mensal life with termites, " a sort of insect economy termed 

 termitophily." 



ORDER vi. ORTHOP'TERA 



This order comprises some of our most familiar insects, as 

 the cockroaches, mantids, leaf-insects, walking sticks, short- 

 horned grasshoppers (locusts), long-horned grasshoppers, and 

 crickets. 



The Orthoptera usually have two pairs of wings. The 

 anterior wings are thicker and overlap or cover the posterior 

 wings when the insect is at rest. The walking-stick is wingless. 



1 Drummond. 



