WHITE ANTS 



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A family of Termites consists of workers as the majority, 

 of soldiers, and of the King and Queen. These are the 

 constant occupants of a completed Termitarium. The 

 royal couple are the father and mother of the colony, 

 and are always kept together closely guarded by a de- 

 tachment of workers in a large chamber in the very heart 

 of the hive, surrounded by much stronger walls than 

 the other cells. They are wingless and both immensely 

 larger than the workers and soldiers. The Queen, when 

 in her chamber, is always found in a gravid condition, 

 her abdomen enormously distended with eggs, which, 

 as fast as they come forth, are conveyed by a relay of 

 workers in their mouths from the royal chamber to the 

 minor cells dispersed throughout the hive. The other 

 members of a Termes family are the winged individuals : 

 these make their appearance only at a certain time of 

 the year, generally in the beginning of the rainy season. 

 It has puzzled naturalists to make out the relationship 

 between the winged Termites and the wingless King and 

 Queen. It has also generally been thought that the 

 soldiers and workers are the larvae of the others ; an 

 excusable mistake, seeing that they much resemble larvae. 

 I satisfied myself, after studying the habits of these in- 

 sects daily for several months, that the winged Termites 

 were males and females in about equal numbers, and 

 that some of them, after shedding their wings and pairing, 

 became Kings and Queens of new colonies ; also, that the 

 soldiers and workers were individuals which had arrived 

 at their full growth without passing through the same 

 stages as their fertile brothers and sisters. 



A Termitarium, although of different shape, size, 

 texture of materials, and built in diiferent situations, 

 according to the species, is always composed of a vast 

 number of chambers and irregular intercommunicating 

 galleries, built up with particles of earth or vegetable 

 matter, cemented together by the saliva of the insects. 

 There is no visible mode of ingress or egress, the entrances 

 being connected with covered roads, which are the sole 

 means of communication with the outer world. The 

 structures are prominent objects in all tropical countries. 

 The very large hillocks at Santarem are the work of many 

 distinct species, each of which uses materials differently 

 compacted, and keeps to its own portion of the tumulus. 

 One kind, Termes arenarius, on which these remarks are 



