INSECTS 



weapon in many species of one termite family that the 

 soldiers of these species have no need of jaws, and their 

 mandibles have become rudimentary. In all cases, the 

 military specialization of the soldiers has rendered them 

 incapable of feeding themselves, and they must depend 

 on the workers for food. 



In addition to the soldiers and the workers, there 

 would probably be seen within the termite nest, at cer- 



-admd 



Fig. 78. Two forms of defensive organs of termite soldiers 

 A, head of soldier of Termopsis, showing the highly developed mandibles \Md) , 

 and the great muscles within the head (admd) that close them. B, a soldier of 

 Nasutitermes (from Banks and Snyder); the head has small jaws but is provided 

 with a long snoutlike horn through which is ejected a gummy liquid used for 



defense 



tain seasons of the year, many individuals (Fig. 77 D) 

 that have small wing rudiments on their thoracic seg- 

 ments. As the season advances, the wing pads of these 

 individuals increase in length, until at last they become 

 long, gauzy, fully-developed wings extending much beyond 

 the tip of the body (Figs. 75 A, B, 79). The color of the 

 body also becomes darker, and finally blackish when the 

 insects are mature. Then, on some particular day, the 



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