The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 05 (of 10)Sedgwick, Adam
Science
The Cambridge natural history, Vol. 05 (of 10)
Sedgwick, Adam
Animals
The mode of eating the ecdysial products has also
been described by Grassi and Sandias. When an individual is sick or
disabled it is frequently eaten alive. It would appear that the soldiers
are great agents in this latter event, and it should be noticed that owing
to their great heads and mandibles they can obtain food by other means only
with difficulty. Since they are scarcely able to gnaw wood, or to obtain
the proctodaeal and stomodaeal foods, their condition may be considered to
be that of permanent hunger, only to be allayed by carnivorous proceedings.
When thrown into a condition of excitement the soldiers sometimes exhibit a
sort of Calotermiticidal mania, destroying with a few strokes five or six
of their fellows. It is, however, only proper to say that these strokes are
made at random, the creature having no eyes. The carnivorous propensities
of _Calotermes_ are apparently limited to cannibalism, as they slaughter
other white ants (_Termes lucifugus_) but never eat them.
The salivary food is white and of alkaline nature; when excreted it makes
its appearance on the upper lip. It is used either by other individuals or
by the specimen that produced it; in the latter case it is transferred to
the lower lip and swallowed by several visible efforts of deglutition. The
aliments we have mentioned are made use of to a greater or less extent by
all the individuals except the very young; these are nourished only by
saliva: they commence taking proctodaeal and stomodaeal food before they
can eat triturated wood.
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