Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/357

LEFT TERMINUS 305 TERMITES TERMINUS, in mythology, a divinity among the Romans supposed to preside over boundaries, frontiers, and land- marks. He was represented with a hu- man head and neck, placed on a plinth, or column, and being destitute of legs or arms, was thus supposed to testify his immovable and steadfast character. of wood, especially in a state of incipient decay, they help many trees to their fall, and they are destructive pests in human dwellings. The termite society consists for the most part of wingless, sexually immature individuals, children, poten- tially of both sexes, which do not grow up. Besides these workers there is a V NEST OF TERMITES In the upper left corner, one of the workers TERMITES (Termitidss), a family of insects in the order Corrodentia, or, ac- cording to some systems, Pseudo-Neurop- tera. They are often called "white ants," but ants are hymenopterous insects, and do not occur before Tertiary times, whereas the termites seem to have lived from Carboniferous ages onward. Yet, like the ants, the termites are social insects living in colonies and building "nests," or "hills." They are widely dis- tributed in tropical countries but they also occur in the temperate parts of North and South America, and a few have established themselves in Europe. As their food consists for the most part less numerous caste of large-headed, strong-jawed soldiers. The workers col- lect food, form burrows and tunnels, build "hills," and care for the males, fe- males, eggs, and larvae. The males and females have wings, which the latter lose after the impregnation. Then, indeed, the female or queen undergoes a remark- able change, becoming enormously dis- tended with eggs and sometimes attaining a length of two to five inches or more. The queen is extremely prolific, having been known to lay 60 eggs in a minute, or about 80,000 eggs in a day. In the royal chamber a male is also kept. It is hardly necessary to say that the queen