OKDERS OP INSECTS. 



157 



Though called " white ants," it is to be remembered that they 

 are not related in any way to the true ants. They builS 

 mounds of different shapes and sizes, sometimes several feet 

 in height, formed of " particles 

 of earth worked into a mate- 

 rial as hard as stone." Each 

 family of Termites (Fig. 69) 

 possesses a king and queen, 

 which are always kept together 

 closely guarded in a chamber 

 placed in the centre of the 

 nest. The king (Fig. 69, a) 

 and the queen (b) both origi- 

 nally possessed wings, but they 

 lose these as soon as they 

 found a colony. Both are much 

 larger than the bulk of the 

 community, the queen im- 

 mensely so, owing to the Fig. 68.— Nem-optera. ApMs-lion (Bemero- 

 enormous distention of her ab- ^'''"'>' ^^°' '"""^ """^ ^^«'- 



domen with eggs. The ordinary Termites are all sterile fe- 

 males, incapable of laying eggs, and they are divided into two 

 distinct sets or " castes," both destitute of wings, and differ- 

 ing in the armature of the head. The one caste includes the 



Fig. 69. — Termites (Termes helUeoeus); a King, before the wings are cast off; & Queen, 

 with tile abdomen distended with eggs ; c Worlier; d Soldier. 



so-called " workers," who perform all the ordinary work of the 

 colony, while the " soldiers " have greatly-developed jaws, and 

 are simply occupied in defending the nest against all enemies. 

 8 



