374 NEUROPTERA 



of the genus Uutermes, found in various parts of the world living 

 in the nests of other Termitidae. 



Origin of the Forms. — The interest attaching to the various 

 forms that exist in Termites, more particularly to the worker and 

 soldier, is evident when we recollect that these never, so far as 

 we know, produce young. In the social Hymenoptera it has 

 been ascertained that the so-called neuters (which in these 

 Insects are always females) can, and occasionally do, produce 

 young, but in the case of the Termites it has never been sug- 

 gested that the sexual organs of the workers and soldiers, whether 

 male or female, ever become fruitful ; moreover, the phenomena 

 of the production of young by the white ants are of such a nature 

 as to render it in the highest degree improbable that either 

 workers or soldiers ever take any direct part in it. Now the 

 soldier is extremely different from the sexual individuals that 

 produce the young, and seeing that its peculiarities are not, in 

 the ordinary sense of the word, hereditary, it must be of great 

 interest to ascertain how they arise. 



Before stating the little information we possess on this sub- 

 ject, it is necessary to reiterate what we have already said to the 

 effect that the soldiers and workers are not special to either sex, 

 and that all the young are born alike. It would be very natural 

 to interpret the phenomena by supposing the workers to be 

 females arrested in their development — as is the case in social 

 Hymenoptera — and by supposing the soldiers to be males with 

 arrested and diverted development. 



The observations already made show that this is not the case. 

 It has been thoroughly well ascertained by Lespes and Fritz Milller 

 that in various species of Ccdofermes the soldiers are both males 

 and females. Lespes and CIrassi have shown that the workers of 

 Termes lucifugus are of male and female sex, and that this is 

 also true of the soldiers. Although the view of the duality of 

 the sexes of these forms was received at first with incredulity, it 

 appears to be beyond doubt correct. Grassi adds that in all the 

 individuals of the workers and soldiers of Termes lucifugus the 

 sexual organs, either male or female, are present, and that they 

 are in the same stage of development whatever the age of the 

 individual. This statement of Grassi's is of importance because 

 it seems to render improbable the view that the difference of form 

 of the soldier and worker arises from the arrest of the develop- 



