Page:Insects - Their Ways and Means of Living.djvu/171



queen, are soldiers and workers, the latter much out- numbering the former. During the second year, the queen lays a still greater number of eggs and probably produces them at more frequent intervals. With the increase in the activity of her ovaries, her abdomen enlarges and she takes on a matronly appearance, attaining a length fully twice that of her virgin figure and a girth in proportion. The king, however, remains faithful to his spouse; and he, too, may fatten up a little, sufficiently to give him some distinction amongst his multiplying subjects. The termite king is truly a king, in the modern way, for he has renounced all authority and responsibility and leads a care-free lire, observing only the decorums of polite society and adhering to the traditions of a gentleman; but he also achieves the highest distinction of democracy, for he is literally the father of his country. Another year rolls by, bringing more eggs, more workers, more soldiers. And now, perhaps, other forms appear in the maturing broods. These are marked at a certain stage of their development by the possession of short wing stubs or pads on the back of the normally wing- bearing segments. With succeeding molts the wing pads become larger afid larger, until they finally develop, in most of these individuals, into long wings like those of the king and the queen when they first flew out from the parent colony. At last, then, the new family is to have its first swarm; and when the fully-winged members are all ready for the event and the proper kind ofday arrives, the workers open a few exits from the galleries, and the winged ones are off. We already know their history, for they will only do what their parents did before them and what their ancestors have done for millions of gener- ations, l.et us go back to the galleries. A few of the individuals that developed winged pads are fated to disappointment, for their wings never grow to a functional size and they are thereby prevented from joining the swarm. Their reproductive organs and their

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INSECTS