124 ASSOCIATION OF ORGANISMS THE WEB OF LIFE 



tion being that this particular species is given to regicide, though 

 this would be contrary to the usual habit of Termites. The 

 following table (modified from Grassi) will show the various kinds 

 of individual that have been found in the dwellings of Termes 

 lucifugus : 



i. Young, undifferentiated nymphs. 



F I ~l 



2. Nymphs that are not 3. Nymphs that will be 4. Reserves for royalties (present if 14, 

 to be concerned with concerned with egg- I?, and n are absent, or 14 and 15 

 egg-production. production. not sufficiently numerous). 



5. Soldier nymphs. 6. Worker nymphs. 9. Nymphs of the 10. Nymphs of the n. Reserves for 



| | first form. second form. royalties (pre- 



7. Soldiers. 8. Workers. | sent if 14, 15, 



|~ | 15. Substitution and4arewant- 



12. Winged 13 Reserve royalties. ing, or if 15 and 



insects. royalties (?). 4 are n t suffi- 

 ciently numer- 



14. True ous). 

 royalties. 



When we remember that the societies of this and other species 

 may exist for a very long time, the reason for the production of 

 substitution royalties becomes tolerably clear. We may suppose 

 that a society is in the first instance founded by a fully-developed 

 royal pair, after they have shed their wings. When a sufficient 

 number of workers have been matured to do the ordinary work, 

 the royal pair for the rest of their lives are carefully tended 

 (though possibly in some species the king may be destroyed), 

 being afterwards replaced by substitution royalties, devoid of 

 wings, these being unnecessary under the circumstances. Pro- 

 vision would, of course, be made for a continuous succession of 

 queens and kings of this kind, and the society would only die 

 out when the environment became in some way very unfavour- 

 able. 



The Light-shunning Termite lives in wood, like the Yellow- 

 necked species, but its building operations are much more 

 elaborate. Complex galleries and chambers are tunnelled out, 

 and, as before, the exhausted intestinal pellets are employed in 

 constructive work, the cement being saliva. The same sorts of 

 food are used as in the other species. 



The societies of certain Termites native to tropical Africa are 

 the largest and most complex yet discovered, though our know- 

 ledge regarding them is unfortunately very incomplete. The 

 most famous species is the Warrior Termite (Termes bellicosus), 



