TERMITES 



sibly a world record in ovulation. The royal chamber is 

 usually placed near the fungus gardens, and as fast as 

 the eggs are delivered by the queen the attendant workers 

 carry them off to the garden and distribute them over 

 the fungus beds, where the young on hatching can feed 

 and grow without further attention. 



From a study of the termites we may draw a few lessons 

 for ourselves. In the first place, we see that the social 

 form of life is only one of the ways of living; but that, 

 wherever it is adopted, it involves an interdependence of 

 individuals upon one another. The social or community 

 way of living is best promoted by a division of labor among 

 groups of individuals, allowing each to specialize and there- 

 by to attain proficiency in his particular kind of work. 

 The means by which the termites have achieved the bene- 

 fits of social life are not the same as those adopted by 

 the ants or social bees, and they have little in common 

 with the principles of our own social organization. All of 

 which goes to show that in the social world, as in the 

 physical world, the end alone justifies the means, so far as 

 nature is concerned. Justice to the individual is a human 

 concept; we strive to equalize the benefits and hardships 

 of the social form of life, and in so far as we achieve this 

 aim our civilization differs from that of the insects. 



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