ARTHROPODS. CLASS INSECTS 121 
species her body becomes so enormously distended with 
these that she loses the power of locomotion and requires 
to be fed. A single-queen has been known to lay eggs at | 
the rate of sixty per minute (eighty thousand a day), and 
Fig. 73.—Termites or white ants. a, queen; 0, winged male; ¢, worker; d, soldier, 
those destined to royal rank are so nursed that they advance 
farther in their development than the remaining sterile 
and wingless forms. 
118. The bugs (Hemiptera).—The large and varied group 
of the bugs (Hemiptera) includes a number of semi-aquatic 
species, such as the water-boatmen, often seen rowing 
_ themselves along in the ponds by means of a pair of oar- 
shaped legs, in search of other insects. Somewhat similar 
at first sight are the back-swimmers, with like rowing 
habits, but unique in swimming back downward. Both of 
these bugs frequently float at the surface, and when about 
to undertake a subaquatic journey they may be seen to 
imprison a bubble of air to take along. Closely related are 
the giant water-bugs (Fig. 74), which often fly from pond 
to pond at night.. In such flights they are frequently 
