334 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



The soldiers are quite like the workers when they are 

 hatched, but, while they also suffer arrestment, they 

 develop on a line of their own with very large heads and 

 jaws. It is noteworthy that the soldiers of different 

 species differ much more than the workers do, and that 

 there are no transitional forms between soldiers and 

 workers. It must also be noticed that the title ' soldiers ' 

 is in many cases at least a courtesy title, for the workers 

 usually fight much better and the mihtariness of the 

 ' soldiers ' is often exhausted in looking on ! 



The erection of a substantial and enduring termitary 

 must, we think, have had great significance in the evolution 

 of the complex Termite community. For it is a permanent 

 product outside the organism, part of the social heritage, 

 enregistering customs. It is often strong enough for a 

 man to stand on, and it shows considerable complexity 

 of architecture. There is the outside wall, with passages 

 in it, and sometimes tunnels in which fungi are grown ; 

 there is the royal chamber where the king and queen are 

 imprisoned ; there is the nursery — a well- ventilated apart- 

 ment sometimes — ^where the young are reared ; there are 

 store-chambers, ventilating shafts, cellars underground, 

 and sometimes an eerie chamber where the reserve ' kings ' 

 and ' queens ' are kept. One of the most interesting 

 features has to do with the method of construction, for 

 in many species the scaffolding of chewed wood is made first, 

 the filhng in comes next, and there is a final smoothing 

 and pointing. 



The industry of the community is prodigious. In many 

 cases there is no resting by day or night, and we cannot 

 find any parallel except in some highly evolved urban 

 conditions where we have shops and restaurants and even 



