68 
SANTAREM. 
Chap. I. 
become winged insects. The workers and soldiers feed 
on decayed wood and other vegetable substances ; I 
could not clearly ascertain what the young fed upon, 
but they are seen of all sizes, larvae and pupae, huddled 
together in the same cells, with their heads converging 
towards the bottom, and I thought I sometimes de- 
tected the workers discharging a liquid from their 
mouths into the cells. The growth of the young family 
is very rapid, and seems to be completed within the 
year : the greatest event of Termite life then takes 
place, namely, the coming of age of the winged males 
and females, and their exit from the hive. 
It is curious to watch a Termitarium when this exodus 
is taking place. The workers are set in the greatest 
activity, as if they were aware that the very existence 
of their species depended on the successful emigration 
and marriages of their brothers and sisters. They clear 
the way for their bulky but fragile bodies, and bite 
holes through the outer walls for their escape. The 
exodus is not completed in one day, but continues until 
all the males and females have emerged from their pupa 
integuments, and flown away. It takes place on moist, 
close evenings, or on cloudy mornings : they are much 
attracted by the lights in houses, and fly by myriads 
into chambers, filling the air with a loud rustling noise, 
and often falling in such numbers that they extinguish 
the lamps. Almost as soon as they touch ground they 
wriggle off their wings, to aid which operation there is 
a special provision in the structure of the organs, a seam 
running across near their roots and dividing the horny 
nervures. To prove that this singular mutilation was 
