Abstract
FRITZ MÜLLER has recently published a short but interesting memoir on the larvæ of Calotermes, a genus of Termites, which he describes with his wonted care and accuracy. We cannot, of course, here follow him in detail; but, as is so often the case in the writings of this eminent naturalist, he draws our attention by his descriptions to several points of unusual interest. As occurs in some other insects, the youngest larvæ of Calotermes differ much in form from those somewhat more advanced in age. The form of the younger larvæ may be accounted for on two hypotheses. It may be an adaptation to the mode of life, or it may be the original larval form of the group. In the latter case, Herr Müller considers that it would be an extremely interesting form, because, in his opinion, Calotermes is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, of existing insect genera; since, according to Hagen, the carboniferous Termites described by Goldenburg from the cold strata belong to this group. Under the latter hypothesis, therefore, the younger larvæ of Calotermes would have, as regards insects, an interest similar to that possessed by Nauplius among Crustacea; and, according to Müller, the latter really is the case. The youngest larvae of Calotermes live with their elder sisters, in the same localities, on the same food, and, in fact, under precisely the same conditions. These older larvæ have, in a word, completely adapted themselves to their dwelling-place and mode of life. Like most animals which burrow in earth, wood, or stone, they are cylindrical in form. Not so the youngest larvæ, which are flattened, and have the thorax laterally expanded. Their structure is, in Müller's opinion, as unsuitable as possible for animals inhabiting wood. This form is therefore probably only possessed through inheritance from far distant ancestors.
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LUBBOCK, E. Addition to our Knowledge of the Termites * . Nature 12, 218 (1875). https://doi.org/10.1038/012218a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/012218a0