122 BOMBAY DUCKS 
which most of the members are sexless creatures. The 
settlement is composed of a royal couple, whose sole 
function is to produce young, and the workers and the 
soldiers, who conduct all the rest of the affairs of the 
little nation. The neuters have no wings. The kings 
and queens are born with these organs, but lose them 
early in life. The winged swarms that appeared yes- 
terday are the sexual forms; they are potential royalties; 
each has in it the making of a king or queen, if it can 
secure subjects. 
At one time it was believed that the object of the 
swarming of white ants was the foundation of new 
colonies. It was thought that the winged creatures 
paired during flight or immediately after their wings 
had fallen off, and then each couple founded a new 
colony. This belief has been somewhat shaken recently 
by Grassi, who has made a prolonged study of the 
termites which live in Sicily. He declares that nothing 
comes of the flight, that it is utterly destroyed, that 
each component individual is devoured by some bird 
or beast; not one survives. Further, these winged 
termites are very silly creatures; they never make the 
least attempt to escape from the lizards which prey 
upon them; they sit still and allow the little reptiles 
to stroll up to them and swallow them. Fritz Muller 
laughs at the idea of a pair of these helpless creatures 
founding a new colony. As well, he thinks, place a 
couple of new-born babes on an uninhabited island to 
establish a new nation of human beings! 
It seems to me that Grassi and Muller are mistaken. 
The swarming of the white ants must be of some use 
