WHITE ANTS. 



347 



ably form a suborder of Platyptera. In the larval and 

 pupal Perla (Fig. 321), tufts of gills are situated on the 

 under side of the prothorax, and in the 

 adult winged Fteronarcys these gills are 

 retained. 



The white ants top the Platypterous 

 series; they live in stumps and fallen 

 trees, and in the tropics do much harm 

 by undermining the sills of houses, and 

 destroying furniture, books, etc. The 

 colonies are very large and populous. 

 In our Termes flavipes there are males 

 and females, workers and soldiers; the workers being small, 

 ant-like, with small round heads, while the soldiers have 



Fig. 321.— PeWa, larva. 



Fig. 332.— Pupa of a Drag- 

 on-fly {Eschna). 



Fig. 323. — Agrion, natural size, and a, its 

 larval gill, much enlarged. 



large square heads, with long jaws; the pupse are active. 

 Fritz MuUer found in Brazil that one species of Termes was 

 differentiated into six different kinds of individuals: viz., a 

 set of winged and wingless females; winged and wingless 

 males; workers and soldiers. A male always lives with a 

 female, and a wingless male and female may, on the death 

 of a winged normal male and female, replace them. He 



