ooa INVERTEBRATES. 



houses, but runs galleries underground, as, curiously enough, al- 

 though blind, it always works either at night or in darkness. In 

 each house or community, there are five different kinds of Termites : 

 1. The single male, or king, whose life is very short j 2. The sin- 

 gle female or queen : these are the perfect insects, and have had 

 wings, but have lost them soon after their admission into their 

 cell ; they also have eyes ; 3. The soldiers or fighting men : these 

 possess large jaws, do no work, but repel adversaries and watch as 

 sentinels ; 4. The pupae, who resemble the workers, except that 

 they possess the rudiments of wings ; and, 5. The larvaa, or workers. 

 These do all the work, i. e. they collect food, attend to the queen, 

 and watch over the eggs and young, and build and repair their 

 castle. These are more numerous than all the other kinds. 



On the approach of the rainy season, the pupae obtain wings 

 and issue forth in swarms. Few, however, survive. Myriads are 

 devoured by birds, reptiles, and even by man ; and many are car- 

 ried out to sea, and perish there. Those that do escape are speedily 

 found by the laborers, who enclose a pair in a clay cell from which 

 they never emerge. The male soon dies, but the female, after 

 rapidly increasing to nearly three inches in length and one in 

 breadth, continues to lay eggs unceasingly for a very long time. 

 This cell becomes the nucleus of the hive, and round it all the 

 other cells and galleries are built. 



These insects are terribly destructive, as they eat through 

 wooden beams, furniture, etc., leaving only a thin shell, which is 

 broken down with the least extra weight, and many are the occasions 

 when an unsuspecting individual, on seating himself on an apparently 

 sound sofa or chair, finds himself, like Belzoni in the Pyramid, 

 reposing among a heap of dust and splinters. 



ORDER V. — MEMBRANE-WINGED INSECTS. 



These have four naked membranaceous wings, but they 

 have not that delicate, netted structure, which belongs to the last 

 order. The bodies of the females are terminated by a borer or 

 perfoi-ator, or by a sting. These insects all undergo a complete 

 metamorphosis. The ant, wasp, and bee, belong to this order 



