TERMITES 



ences between the termite castes are probably innate, 

 and that they arise from differences in the constitutional 

 elements of the germ cells that direct the subsequent 

 development of the embryos in the eggs and of the young 

 after hatching. 



Still, however, there remain questions as to the nature 

 of the force that controls termite behavior. Whv do the 

 termites remain together in a community instead of 

 scattering, each to live its own life as do most other in- 

 sects? Why do the workers accept their lot and perform 

 all the menial duties assigned to them? Why do the sol- 

 diers expose themselves to danger as defenders of the 

 nests? Structure can account for the things it is im- 

 possible tor an animal to do, but it can not explain positive 

 behavior where seemingly the animal makes a choice 

 between many lines of possible action open to it. 



In the community of the cells that make up the body 

 of an animal, as we learned in Chapter IV, organization 

 and control are brought about either through the nerves, 

 which transmit an activating or inhibiting force to each 

 cell from a central controlling station, or through chemical 

 substances thrown into the blood. In the insect com- 

 munity, however, there is nothing corresponding to 

 either of these regulating influences; nor is there a law- 

 making individual or group of individuals as in human 

 societies, nor a police force to execute the orders if any 

 were issued. It would seem that there must be some 

 inscrutable power that maintains law and order in the 

 termite galleries. Are we, then, to admit that there is a 

 "spirit of the nest," an "dme collective,'' as Maeterlinck 

 would have us believe — some pervading force that unites 

 the individuals and guides the destinies of the colony 

 as a whole? No, scientists can not accept any such idea 

 as that, because it assumes that nature's resources are 

 no greater than those of man's imagination. Nature is 

 always natural, and her ways and means of accomplish- 

 ing anything, when once discovered, never invoke things 



[ '43 1 



