206 THE TERMITES. 



but they took no notice of the full-grown ones. It was not 

 possible to distinguish the larvae of the four classes when 

 extremely young, but at an advanced stage it was easy to 

 see which were to become males and females, and which 



workers and soldiers Thus I think I made out that 



the soldier and worker castes are, like the males and females, 

 distinct from the egg ; they are not made so by a difference 

 of food or treatment during their earlier stages, and they 

 never become winged insects. The workers and soldiers 

 feed on decayed wood and other vegetable substances : I 

 could not clearly ascertain what the young fed upon, but 

 they are seen of all sizes, larvae and pupae, huddled together 

 in the same cells, with their heads converging towards the 

 bottom, and I thought I sometimes detected the workers 

 discharging a liquid from their mouths into the cells. The 

 growth of the young family is very rapid, and seems to be 

 completed within the year : the greatest event of Termite 

 life then takes place, namely, the coming of age of the 

 winged males and females, and their exit from the hive. It 

 is curious to watch a Termitarium when this exodus is 

 taking place. The workers are set in the greatest activity, 

 as if they were aware that the very existence of their species 

 depended on the successful emigration and marriages of their 

 brothers and sisters. They clear the way for their bulky but 

 fragile bodies, and bite holes through the outer walls for 

 their escape. The exodus is not completed in one day, but 

 continues until all the males and females have emerged from 

 their pupa integuments and flown away. It takes place on 

 moist close evenings, or on cloudy mornings : they are much 

 attracted by the lights in houses, and fly by myriads into 

 chambers, filling the air with a loud rustling noise, and often 

 falling in such numbers that they extinguish the lamps. 

 Almost as soon as they touch ground they wriggle off their 

 wings, to aid which operation there is a special provision in 

 the structure of the organs, a seam running across near 

 their roots, and dividing the horny nervures. To prove that 

 this singular mutilation was voluntary, on the part of the 

 insects, I repeatedly tried to detach the wings by force, but 

 could never succeed while they were fresh, for they always 

 tore out by the roots. Few escape the innumerable enemies 

 which are on the alert at these times to devour them ; ants, 

 spiders, lizards, toads, bats, and goat-suckers. Tho waste of 



