xv, 4 Oshima: Formosan Termites 333 



Table II. — Time between swarming and egg laying — Continued. 



RECORDS FOR 1916. 

 Days after swarming. Cases 



6 9' 



6 3 



7 7 



8 8 



9 9 

 10 3 

 12 2 



3. The rate of egg laying is not rapid in the first batch, one to four 



eggs being laid on one day. 



4. Eggs hatch out in from twenty- four to thirty-two days after they aii» 



laid. 



5. After five months of captivity, the nests in two of the tubes were 



opened. In these there were no unhatched eggs; the king and the 

 queen, which still retained the norma! form of the imago, ran 

 actively, in company with rather small individuals of the worker 

 type and soldiers. The number of individuals in each nest agreed 

 well; one contained twenty-two individuals of the worker type 

 and two soldiers, the other, twenty individuals of the worker type 

 and three soldiers. These facts clearly show that about twenty- 

 five eggs compose the first batch in a newly established colony, 

 and that no more eggs are laid until the eggs of the first brood 

 are all hatched. 



6. In the first brood the soldiers are few in comparison with individuals 



of the worker type, about 10 per cent of the number of the latter 

 being soldiers. 



7. Soldiers hatch from the eggs that are laid by true royal females." 



SITUATION OF THE NEST 



Coptotermes formosanus does not construct a large mound 

 as do some species in the Tropics. Usually it makes its nest 

 in the ground at a depth of from 6 to 10 feet (1.82 to 3.04 

 meters) . Very often the nest is made at the junction of rafters 

 of buildings or in the inner part of infested timbers, in wooden 

 boxes or cabinets, or in the interspaces in walls. Generally 

 the nest is round and honeycombed, and in the center there 

 is a small, slitlike royal chamber (Plate II; Plate III, fig. 2). 



The nest consists of a mixture of abdominal excreta and 

 clay or sand, pasted together with a special secretion of the 

 salivary glands. Sometimes it is rigid and compact and seems 

 like a piece of rock. However, it is inflammable and burns 

 rapidly, leaving a small amount of ash. 



* As it is almost impossible from external characters to draw a fast line 

 between larvae of royal forms and of workers, nothing at present can be 

 said with regard to the origin of these two forms. 



