WOOD-DJESTROriNG WHITE ANTS. ' 373 



north. Since large tracts of country are thns left out of considera- 

 tion, this paper can only be regarded as a preliminary treatise on 

 the wood-destroying Termites of the Bombay Presidency. 



We start with a few introductory remarks intended for the 

 benefit of those not yet familiar with the natural history of the 

 Termites. " White Ants " have nothing to do with common ants 

 as their popular name seems to imply. Their nearest relations in 

 the insect world — so science tells us — are the Blattids, the best 

 known representative of which is our common cockroach. (Real 

 ants, on the contrary, are closely allied to Avasps and bees, together 

 with which thej^ form the order Hymenoptera.) The scientific 

 name of the White Ants is " Termites," and they form the 

 natural order, Isoptera, which means " insects, having wings (viz., 

 fore as well as hind wings) of equal length." 



In each fully developed colony of Termites, we always find a 

 queen, i.e., an egg-laying female, usually of much larger propor- 

 tions than the other individuals of the colony, a king or male, and 

 numerous workers and soldiers.* Workers as well as soldiers are 

 " neuters," i.e., their reproductive organs are not developed and 

 consequentl}^ functionless. The workers, as their name implies, 

 do all the work that is required for the maintenance of the colony, 

 viz., building the nest, procuring food, nursing the offspring, etc. 

 The soldiers are responsible " for the defence of the nest ; for this 

 reason they are, as a rule, provided with specially strong and 

 pointed mandibles, a sort of small pincers protruding from the 

 head. At certain seasons of the year (not all the year round) 

 winged individuals, usually in large numbers, are found in the 

 Termite nests ; they are males and females. As soon as they have 

 reached their full development, they fly out of the nest (" swarm- 

 ing" of Termites), then shed their wings, unite in pairs, and 

 settle on some suitable spot to form a new colony of which they 

 become king and queen respectively. 



So much for the general introduction : we now proceed to 

 discuss our special subject and first ask the question, " What 

 about the wood-destroying propensities of White Ants ? Do all 

 Termites, indiscriminately, attack wood ? " The wiseacres, specially 

 such as have never thought it worth their while to look attentively 

 at these " unsightly creatures," are at once ready with their 

 answer. They put it tersely thus : " A White Ant is a White 

 Ant," meaning thereby that all White Ants are alike or of the 

 same species ; consequently, if one is found to be fond of wood it 

 goes without saying that all without exception are of the same 

 disposition. Now nothing could be more remote from truth than 

 such an opinion ; a glance at plate I must convince everybody of 



* Only one Indian species, Anoplotermes cydops Wasm., is destitute of soldiers. 



