WHITE ANTS 



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other to defend the community against all comers. Ants 

 and termites are also widely different in their mode of 

 growth, or, as it is called, metamorphosis. Ants in their 

 early stage are footless grubs, which, before they reach 

 the adult stage, pass through an intermediate quiescent 

 stage (pupa) inclosed in a membrane. Termites, on the 

 contrary, have a similar form when they emerge from the 

 egg to that which they retain throughout life ; the chief 

 difference being the gradual acquisition of eyes and wings 

 in the sexual individuals during the later stages of growth. 

 Termites and true ants, in fact, belong to two widely 

 dissimilar orders of insects, and the analogy between them 

 is only a general one of habits. The mode of growth of 

 Termites and the active condition of their young stages 

 (larva and pupa) make the constitution of their com- 

 munities much more difficult of comprehension than that 

 of ants ; hence how many castes existed, and what sort 

 of individuals they were composed of, if not males and 

 females, have always been puzzles to naturalists in the 

 absence of direct observation. 



What a strange spectacle is offered to us in the organiza- 

 tion of these insect communities ! Nothing analogous 

 occurs amongst the higher animals. Social instincts 

 exist in many species of mammals and birds, where 

 numerous individuals unite to build common habitations, 

 as we see in the case of weaver-birds and beavers ; but 

 the principle of division of labour, the setting apart of 

 classes of individuals for certain employments, occurs 

 only in human societies in an advanced state of civiliza- 

 tion. In all the higher animals there are only two orders 

 of individuals as far as bodily structure is concerned, 

 namely, males and females. The wonderful part in the 

 history of the Termites is, that not only is there a rigid 

 division of labour, but nature has given to each class a 

 structure of body adapting it to the kind of labour it has 

 to perform. The males and females form a class apart ; 

 they do no kind of work, but in the course of growth 

 acquire wings to enable them to issue forth and dis- 

 seminate their kind. The workers and soldiers are wing- 

 less, and differ solely in the shape and armature of the 

 head. This member in the labourers is smooth and 

 rounded, the mouth being adapted for the working of the 

 materials in building the hive ; in the soldiers the head is 

 of very large size, and is provided in almost every kind 



