304 THE DRAGON-FLY. 



turrets and smaller cones. Nor is this all, for the subterranean excavations are every whit as 

 marvellous as the building, consisting of galleries, chambers, and wells some fourteen inches 

 in width, and penetrating about five feet into the earth. These excavations serve for homes, 

 for nurseries, and for roads of communication between the several portions of the vast 

 establishment. 



To give a complete history of the Termites would be a task demanding so much time and 

 space, that it cannot be attempted in these pages; and we must, therefore, content ourselves 

 . with a slight sketch of their general history, premising that many parts of their economy, and 

 especially those which relate to their development, are still buried in mystery. 



The most recent investigations give the following results: — 



Each Termite colony is founded by a fruitful pair, called the king and queen, who are 

 placed in a chamber devoted to their sole use, and from which they never stir when once 

 enclosed. These insects produce a vast quantity of eggs, from winch are hatched the remain- 

 ing members of the colony, consisting of neuters of both sexes, the females being termed 

 workers and the males soldiers, the latter being distinguished by their enormous heads and 

 powerful jaws ; of larva." of two forms, some of which will be fully developed, and others pass 

 all their lives in the worker or soldier condition ; of pupa? of two forms ; and, lastly, of male 

 and female perfect insects, which are destined to found fresh colonies. The neuters of either 

 sex are without wings. 



Passim; by. for the present, several families of the Neuroptera, we come to the Libellu- 

 lidse, or Dragon-flies. These insects are very familiar to us by means of the numerous Dragon- 

 Hies which haunt our river sides, and which are known to tin- rustics by the very inappro- 

 priate name of Horse-stingers, they possessing no sting and never meddling with horses or any 

 other vertebrate animal. The name of Drag on-fly, on the contrary, is perfectly appropriate, 

 as these insects are, indeed, the dragons of the air, far more voracious and active than even 

 the fabled dragons of antiquity. 



Even in their preliminary stages the Dragon-flies preserve their predatory habits, and for 

 that purpose are armed in a most remarkable manner. During the larval and pupal states, 

 the Dragon-fly is an inhabitant of the water, and may be found in most of our streams, 

 usually haunting the muddy banks, and propelling itself along by an apparatus as efficacious 

 as it is simple, and exactly analogous to the mode by which the nautilus forces itself through 

 the water. The respiration is carried on by means of the oxygen which is extracted from the 

 water; and the needful supply of liquid is allowed to pass into and out of the body through a 

 large aperture at the end of the tail. On taking one of these creatures from the water, the 

 extremity of the tail seems to be pyramidal, but on examination will be seen to consist of 

 several pointed flakes which can be separated and then disclose the aperture above mentioned. 



By means of this apparatus, water is admitted into the body, and, after giving up its 

 oxygen, is violently expelled, thereby forcing the insect forward with a velocity- proportioned 

 to the power of the stroke. If one of these creatures be put into a glass vessel, it appears at 

 first to move by simple volition ; but if a little sand be allowed to settle at the bottom, the 

 disturbance caused among the grains by the ejected water will show the mode of progression. 

 If the larva be allowed to take in the water, and then suddenly moved into the air, the force 

 with which it expels the contained water will drive it to a distance of three or four inches. 



Such are its means of locomotion; those of attack are not less remarkable or less effi- 

 cacious. 



The lower lip, instead of being a simple cover to the mouth, is developed into a strange- 

 jointed organ, which can be shot out to the distant f nearly an inch ; or, when at rest, can 



lie folded flat over the face, much as a carpenter's rule can be shut up so as to fit into his 

 pocket, and can be rapidly protruded or withdrawn, very like the instrument called a "lazy- 

 tongs." Like that instrument, it is furnished at its extremity with a pair of forceps, and is 

 able to grasp at passing objects with the swiftness and certainty of a serpent's stroke. 



The creature remains for some ten or eleven months in the preliminary stages of existence, 

 and when the insect is about to make its final change, the undeveloped wings become visible 



