PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



27 



ject are so just and striking, that I cannot refrain from copy- 

 ing them. 



" The history of insects that live in solitude consists of 

 their generation, their peculiar habits, the metamorphoses 

 they undergo; their manner of life under each successive 

 form; the stratagems for the attack of their enemies, and 

 the skill with which they construct their habitation : but that 

 of insects which form numerous societies is not confined to 

 some remarkable proceedings, to some peculiar talent ; it 

 offers new relations, which arise from common interest, from 

 the equality or superiority of rank, from the part which 

 each member supports in the society ; — and all these relations 

 suppose a connection between the different individuals of 

 which it consists that can scarcely exist but by the inter- 

 vention of language : for such may be called every mode of 

 expressing their wishes, their wants, and even their ideas, if 

 that name may be given to the impulses of instinct. It 

 would be difficult to explain in any other way that concur- 

 rence of all wills to one end, and that species of harmony 

 which the whole of their institution exhibits." 



The great end of the societies of insects being the rapid 

 multiplication of the species, Providence has employed ex- 

 traordinary means to secure the fulfilment of this object, by 

 creating a particular order of individuals in each society, 

 which, freed from sexual pursuits, may give themselves wholly 

 to labour, and thus absolve the females from every employ- 

 ment but that of furnishing the society from time to time 

 with a sufficient supply of eggs to keep up the population to 

 its proper standard. In the case of the Termites, the office 

 of working for the society, as these insects belong to an order 

 whose metamorphosis is semi-complete, devolves upon the 

 larvae ; the neuters, unless these should prove to be the larva? 

 of males, being the soldiers of the community. 



From this circumstance perfect societies may be divided 

 into two classes ; the first including those whose workers are 

 larvce, and the second those whose workers are neuters. 1 The 



1 I employ occasionally the term neuters, though it is not perfectly proper, 

 for the sake of convenience ; — strictly speaking, they may rather be regarded as 

 imperfect or sterile females. Yet certainly, as the imperfection of their organi- 

 sation unfits them for sexual purposes, the term neuter is not absolutely im- 

 proper. 



