Cannibalism, indeed, is rather an institution than a vice in the termitary. To begin with, the cast skin of every member is eaten by the others as a matter of course. With this view, any individual who is ready to moult receives the skilled aid of two or more assistants, who either eat the outer portion of their friend, bit by bit, as they shred it off, or else carry it away whole and devour it at their leisure. Sometimes, moreover, one, after licking another affectionately, in the way that ants do, may be seen to give it a covert bite, as though desirous of something more filling, whilst any sick member is eaten by its companions before it is dead. Royalty is not exempt from this treatment, and, on one occasion, nine individuals, including one soldier, were observed by Professor Grassi in the act of enjoying a meal on the body of a substitute king who was in process of moulting. The wretched animal was still alive, and writhed all over its body, to free itself from the torture. The nine assassins were probably annoyed at the light, for they at once stopped eating, and jointly carried off the victim to a darker part of the nest. Meanwhile many others crowded up to partake in this feast of royal flesh.[9] A soldier, too, has been observed to kill and partially eat one of its worker companions, nor is it altogether uncommon for an individual of any class, after licking, for some little while, the leg of another, suddenly to snap it off. The bond of union, therefore, though sufficiently developed to allow of an elaborate social organisation, is not so strong between members of the same termitary as it is in the case of ants, amongst which latter such unseemly conduct is never known to occur. So, too, unless a particular chemical substance, which seems to have a maddening effect, be flung amongst them, ants of one community never attack each other. Amongst white ants, however, warfare will occasionally break out within the nest, more especially if this be disturbed, in which case the soldiers are apt to turn savagely on those nearest to them, perhaps considering them as the cause of the calamity. Still, upon the whole, order, and, if not friendship, at least co-operation, is conspicuously displayed, and the majority often interfere to put a stop to such individual or partial combats as may from time to time break out.