. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . as hard as a crabs claw, and placed in a strong, horny head, which is of anut-brown color, and larger than all the rest of the body together, whichseems to labor under great difficulty in carrying it: on which account, per-naps, the animal is incapable of climbing up perpendicular surfaces. The third order, or the insect in its perfect state, varies its form stillmore than ever. The head, thorax, and abdomen, differ almost entirely fromthe same parts in the labo
. The naturalist's library; containing scientific and popular descriptions of man, quadrupeds, birds, fishes, reptiles and insects; . as hard as a crabs claw, and placed in a strong, horny head, which is of anut-brown color, and larger than all the rest of the body together, whichseems to labor under great difficulty in carrying it: on which account, per-naps, the animal is incapable of climbing up perpendicular surfaces. The third order, or the insect in its perfect state, varies its form stillmore than ever. The head, thorax, and abdomen, differ almost entirely fromthe same parts in the laborers and soldiers; and, besides this, the animal isnow furnished with four large, brownish, transparent wings, with which it isat the time of emigration to wing its wav in search of a new settlement. 840 INSECTA — TERMITES. In short, il differs so much from its form and appearance in the other twostates, that it has never been supposed to be the same animal, but by then0. who nave seen it in the same nestsj^and some of these have distrusted theevidence of their senses. It was f(r long before I met with them in theirnests myself, that I doubted the informlftion that was given me by the natives,that they belonged to the same family. Indeed we may open twenty nestswithout finding one winged one, for those are to be found only just beforethe commencement of the rainy season, when they undergo the last change,which is preparative to their colonization. In the winged state, they have also much altered their size as well asform. Their bodies now measure between six or seven tenths of an inch inlength, and their wings above two inches and a half from tip to tip, andthey are equal in bulk to about thirty laborers, or two soldiers. They arenow also furnished with two large eyes placed on each side of the head, andvery conspicuous. If they have any before, they are not easily to be distin-guished. Probably in the two first states, their eyes, if they have any, ma
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidnaturalistsl, bookyear1851
