96 



THE STUDY OF INSECTS. 



Fig. 104. — Termes 

 fiapives^ worker. 



Fig. 105. — Termes 

 flavipes^ soldier. 



there build nests or mounds sometimes twelve feet high, or 

 make roundish nests several feet thick on trees. Our 

 Northern species (Termes flavipes) lives in old logs and 

 stumps, or under stones in the ground. 



A remarkable thing about the White-ants is the way they 

 are divided into classes, each class fitted to do a certain work 



for the colony. First, there 

 is the class of workers (Fig. 

 104), which is constituted of 

 both sexes : they are wingless, 

 and of a dirty-white color, 

 and while they resemble true 

 ants somewhat, their waists 

 are thicker. Their business is 

 to bring food for everybody, 

 feed and bring up the young 

 termites, and build nests. 

 Second, there is the class 

 called soldiers (Fig. 105) : these too are of both sexes and 

 wingless, and look somewhat like the workers, only their 

 heads are tremendous in size, being often nearly as long as 

 the rest of the body, and their jaws are large and powerful. 

 Third, is the royal class called kings and queens. It would 

 have been better to have called them fathers and mothers, 

 as they are the parents of the colony, and do not rule it. 

 This class when grown have wings which lie flat upon the 

 back when at rest, and may be twice as long as the body. 

 In May or June in our common species this class swarms 

 forth from all the nests of the neighborhood. After a flight 

 of some distance the wings are shed, and a king chooses 

 some queen near him and proposes that they start a king- 

 dom of their own. But like mortal kings and queens they 

 cannot reign unless a kingdom is found for them, and so 

 millions of these royal pairs die because they have no sub- 

 jects. But sometimes a fortunate couple is discovered by 

 some termite workers, who at once take possession of the 



