1 7 4 INSECTS. 



there are no true mandibulate soldiers; but there is instead a class of individuals, 

 known as " nasuti," from the fact that their pear-shaped heads are prolonged in 

 front in the form of a beak The exact part which the nasuti play is not 

 yet clearly known ; but, like the soldiers of other species, these individuals 

 appear at the first sign of danger, and shake their head and palpi in a most 

 menacing way. The eggs of the queen termite are, as mentioned, carried away 

 by bodies of workers, and placed in special chambers, or nurseries. When the 

 young larvae are hatched, they are at first indistinguishable from one another, 

 and are little blind creatures,, with soft and pale integument ; and it is only after 

 the first or second moult, that they begin to show those differences which subse- 

 quently distinguish the larvae of the various classes. They are fed with a special 

 kind of food, consisting of comminuted dead wood, mixed with saliva, which certain 

 of the workers prepare for them. By varying the quantity and quality of the 

 food supplied, the termites appear able to arrest or deviate the development of 

 larvae that would, in the ordinary course, become perfect insects or, in other words, 

 they can produce workers and soldiers from larvae which, if fed upon a different 

 diet, might develop into winged insects fitted to become kings and queens. And 

 it has been shown that neither the soldiers nor the workers of the termites belong- 

 to one particular sex only, as is the case with the neuters of bees and ants, but 

 that individuals of both sexes, in an imperfect sexual condition are comprised in 

 each class. The winged insects into which many of the larvae develop are most 

 abundant at certain periods of the year, especially after rains ; they do not remain 

 long in the nest, but, after a few days at the most, make their way out, or are led 

 out by the workers, and shortly afterwards take flight. They may often be seen 

 flying in swarms, and at night sometimes enter houses, being attracted by the 

 light. Many are devoured by birds, which seize them as they leave the nest. 

 When they have finished their flight, and alight on the ground, they shed their 

 wings, which easily snap off at the line of suture near the base. If a couple, 

 chancing to be near a termite burrow, are found by some workers, they are brought 

 in, a royal cell is prepared for them, and, as king and queen, they become the 

 parents of a new colony. Some larvae develop into individuals, which, although 

 fitted to perform the functions of perfect insects, never possess complete wings, 

 but are provided at most with wing-pads, or rudiments of wings. These indi- 

 viduals, which somewhat resemble the nymphs of the perfect insects, are known as 

 substitution kings and queens, and take the place of true royal couples, when from 

 any cause the latter are not to be found. 



The food of white ants consists ordinarily of decaying wood, or similar 

 vegetable matter, which, when it has passed in a half -digested state through their 

 bodies, is eaten again. These insects have also the habit of devouring their dead, 

 which makes it possible to destroy a whole colony by placing a little arsenic or 

 mercuric chloride in their food ; for the few that die through first partaking of the 

 poison are eaten by others, which in their turn are also devoured, and so 

 the poison is spread through the entire population. About two hundred species 

 of termites have been described ; and these inhabit chiefly the tropical and sub- 

 tropical parts of the world, although two small species are found in the south of 

 Europe. Some species live in the hollows they have eaten out in the interior of the 



