rfection. If in certain parts of the earth human societies
are superior to those of Ants, in many others the civilisation of Ants
is notably superior. No village of Kaffirs can be compared to a palace
of the Termites. The classifications separate these insects (sometimes
called "White Ants") from the Ants, since the latter are Hymenoptera,
while the former are ranked among the Neuroptera, but their
constructions are almost alike, and may be described together. These
small animals, relatively to their size, build on a colossal scale
compared to Man; even our most exceptional monuments cannot be placed
beside their ordinary buildings. (Fig. 37.) The domes of triturated
and plastered clay which cover their nests may rise to a height of
five metres; that is to say, to dimensions equal to one thousand times
the length of the worker. The Eiffel Tower, the most elevated monument
of which human industry can boast, is only one hundred and
eighty-seven times the average height of the worker. It is three
hundred metres high, but to equal the Termites' audacity, it would
have to attain a height of 1,600 metres.

[Illustration: FIG. 37.]

[Illustration: FIG. 38. 1. King before wings are cast off; 2. Worker
(neuter); 3. Queen with abdomen distended with eggs; 4. Soldier
(neuter); 5. Young (resembling adults).]

The different species of Termite are not equally industrious. The _T.
bellicosus_ seems to have carried the art of construction to the
highest point. All the individuals of the species are not alike; there
exists a polymorphism which produces creatures of three sorts: 1, the
_soldiers_, recognised by their large heads and long sharp mandibles,
moved by powerful muscles; it is their mission to defend the whole
colony against its adversaries, and the wounds they can produce, fatal
to creatures of their own size, are painful even to man; 2, the
_workers_, who labour as navvies and architects, and take charge of
the pupae: they form the great majority of the community; 3, the _king_
and _queen_. (Fig. 38.) To each nest there is usually only a single
fertile and lazy couple. These two personages do absolutely nothing;
the soldiers and the workers care for them and bring them food. They
have both possessed wings, but these fall off. The queen reigns but
does not govern; she lays. The king is simply the husband of the
queen. The internal administration of the palace is bound up with the
parts played by these three kinds of beings.