02 Philippine Journal of Science ww 



for a considerable length of time without food. About five 

 days after starting the new home, the female begins to lay 

 from one to five eggs, at intervals of two or three days. It 

 takes the eggs about a month to hatch, and the adults that de- 

 velop therefrom are mostly workers, only a very few soldiers 

 being produced. Sexual individuals are not produced until 

 later, when the colony is already well established. The nymphs 

 of soldiers do not exhibit the characteristic appearance of their 

 respective mature forms until about the last instar, or imme- 

 diately before the insect reaches the adult stage. Nymphs of 

 the sexual caste are larger than those of either soldier or 

 worker and are easily distinguished by the presence of wing 

 pads on those areas of the body where the full-grown wings are 

 to develop later. The nymphal stage of the soldiers and work- 

 ers lasts about a month ; no definite observation has as yet been 

 made in connection with that of the winged form. In about 

 three months after the establishment of the nest, a sufficient 

 number of small workers has been developed to start the work 

 on a fungus garden and on the preliminary construction of 

 the new mound which is to become the permanent home of the 

 colony. 



In a well-established nest the royal chamber is located a little 

 below the level of the surface of the ground. It is a hollow, 

 plano-convex chamber, with thick, irregular, clay walls and nu- 

 merous passageways connecting with the adjoining parts of the 

 nest. Within the chamber are the king and the queen, attended 

 by a large bodyguard of soldiers and workers. Occasionally, 

 two queens are found occupying the same chamber in a nest; 

 but in all cases not more than one male is present. The king 

 has not changed his appearance since he first came down from 

 the nuptial flight; he is still very lively and is likely to slip 

 away and escape detection unless some care is exercised in re- 

 moving the royal chamber from the nest. On the other hand, 

 the queen has changed considerably. Her abdomen is much 

 engorged with eggs; and the abdominal tergites and sternites, 

 once closely connected, are now situated far apart, with their 

 connecting membranes greatly distended. The insect at this 

 time presents a characteristic sausagelike appearance. Her ac- 

 tivity is restricted in so far as locomotion is concerned; and 

 she is now entirely helpless — actually a prisoner in her own cell. 

 The workers feed her, clean her body, and look after her personal 

 comfort. Her abdomen exhibits a succession of peristaltic move- 

 ments, attended by a continuous discharge of more or less ellip- 



