394 
THE DRAGON-FLY. 
turrets and smaller cones. Not is this all, for the subterranean excavations are every whit as 
marvellous as the building, consisting of galleries, chambers, and wells some fourteen inches 
in width, and penetrating about five feet into the earth. These excavations serve for homes, 
for nurseries, and for roads of communication between the several portions of the vast 
establishment. 
To give a complete history of the Termites would be a task demanding so much time and 
space, that it cannot be attempted in these pages ; and we must, therefore, content ourselves 
with a slight sketch of their general history, premising that many parts of their economy, and 
especially those which relate to their development, are still buried in mystery. 
The most recent investigations give the following results : — 
Each Termite colony is founded by a fruitful pair, called the king and queen, who are 
placed in a chamber devoted to their sole use, and from which they never stir when once 
enclosed. These insects produce a vast quantity of eggs, from which are hatched the remain- 
ing members of the colony, consisting of neuters of both sexes, the females being termed 
workers and the males soldiers, the latter being distinguished by their enormous heads and 
powerful jaws ; of larvae of two forms, some of which will be fully developed, and others pass 
all their lives in the worker or soldier condition ; of pupae of two forms ; and, lastly, of male 
and female perfect insects, which are destined to found fresh colonies. The neuters of either 
sex are without wings. 
Passing by, for the present, several families of the ISTeuroptera, we come to the Libellu- 
lidae, or Dragon-flies. These insects are very familiar to us by means of the numerous Dragon- 
flies which haunt our river sides, and which are known to the rustics by the very inappro- 
priate name of Horse-stingers, they possessing no sting and never meddling with horses or any 
other vertebrate animal. The name of Drag on-fly, on the contrary, is perfectly appropriate, 
as these insects are, indeed, the dragons of the air, far more voracious and active than even 
the fabled dragons of antiquity. 
Even in their preliminary stages the Dragon-flies preserve their predatory habits, and for 
that purpose are armed in a most remarkable manner. During the larval and pupal states, 
the Dragon-fly is an inhabitant of the water, and may be found in most of our streams, 
usually haunting the muddy banks, and propelling itself along by an apparatus as efficacious 
as it is simple, and exactly analogous to the mode by which the nautilus forces itself through 
the water. The respiration is carried on by means of the oxygen which is extracted from the 
water 5 and the needful supply of liquid is allowed to pass into and out of the body through a 
large aperture at the end of the tail. On taking one of tnese creatures from the water, the 
extremity of the tail seems to be pyramidal, but on examination will be seen to consist of 
ggygpgq pointed flakes which can be separated and then disclose the apertuie above mentioned. 
By means of this apparatus, water is admitted into the body, and, aftei giv ing up its 
oxygen, is violently expelled, thereby forcing the insect forward with a velocity proportioned 
to the power of the stroke. If one of these creatures be put into a glass vessel, it appears at 
first to move by simple volition ; but if a little sand be allowed to settle at the bottom, the 
disturbance caused among the grains by the ejected water will show the mode of progression. 
If the larva be allowed to take in the wrnter, and then suddenly moved into the air. the force 
with which it expels the contained water will drive it to a distance of three or four inches. 
Such are its means of locomotion 5 those of attack are not less remarkable or less effi- 
cacious. 
The lower lip, instead of being a simple cover to the mouth, is developed into a strange- 
jointed organ, which can be shot out to the distance of nearly an inch ; or, when at rest, can 
be folded flat over the face, much as a carpenter’s rule can be shut up so as to fit into his 
pocket, and can be rapidly protruded or withdrawn, very like the instrument called a “lazy- 
tongs.” Like that instrument, it is furnished at its extremity with a pair of forceps, and is 
able to grasp at passing objects with the swiftness and certainty of a serpent s stioke. 
The creature remains for some ten or eleven months in the preliminary stages of existence, 
and when the insect is about to make its final change, the undeveloped wings become visible 
