We sense in every colony a guiding spirit governing ang deter-auming all that shall be done therein, whether it be building, gather~ ing food, preparing it for con sumption, excavation, fighting, the rearing of extra individuals of one the different castes or the execution and extermination of super fluous individuals of another if such a necessity should arise. We see in the different species a great diversity of form, habits, and functions, many remarkable' shifts for a living, many exquisite adjustments to environmental. conditions.
We find that, somehow, information transmitted with lightning rapidity throughout the whole colony, even in the cases where its subterranean tunnels extend for hundreds of yards, or even several miles, or its aerial galleries ascend the highest trees, We discover in the creatures themselves wonderful chemical factories, $0 to speak, wherein, theovgh living' protozoa within their intestines, they are able to absorb the indigestible cellulose of which all woody fibres are composed, We find gardeners who prepare leaf-mould for the growth of special species of fungi upon which some of the members of the colony must. feed. We even find some members doing the feeding: and digesting for others, who are without jaws, oF whose' jaws are specialized ' for other purposes, and, what is more, perfectly willing to give up the contents of their own stomachs should the hungry ones who are unable to fend for themselves ask it of them, We a perfect system of ventilation, throughout the teritary and its interminable saller-fes, as well ax a system, as yet not understood, of keeping, up the required temperature, and, what is more important, the necessary do-reo of moisture, We find a hig ly efficient means of disposing of all yefuse—it in eaten by" those who can do {t and prepared as food for those who depend upon others for nourishment; nothing ts wasted, {t all eaten over and over again ill Is nothing lett, soldiers, insects. with minute bodies and enormous heads armed with formidable jaws, or, a8 some casss, jaws modified into squivteruns that can shoot burning acid at their enemies. When danger'threatens the community, these Various kinds of soldiers appear in their millions if necessary and hold any enemy at, bay while the work: ers repair the fortifications. some cases, the soldiers sacrifice themeclves by Keeping the enemy. busy while the workers build tp. partitions behind them and wall them and the enemy out together.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.