184 L. R. CLEVELAND. 



"the royal forms." The second and third forms he calls "sub- 

 stitute" and "complemental " forms, \vhich forms he thinks are 

 always ready to take the place of the royal forms in case of need. 

 He recognizes nymphs of the first and second forms, but these, 

 he thinks, if taken young enough and given the proper food, 

 may be changed into anything else, i.e., any of the castes. But, 

 Thompson (1919 and 1922) and Snyder (1920) have presented 

 valuable experimental evidence in support of the view that each 

 of the three reproductive castes breeds true, that is, produces 

 reproductive adults only like itself. 1 



b. Food Direct. 



Wood is a direct food of most termites. Some of them feed on 

 dry heartwood, while others feed on moist and more decayed 

 wood, usually sapwood. Kalotermes schwarzi, for instance, is 

 often found in furniture stored in an attic, since it does not re- 

 quire access to the soil in nature as does Reticulitermes flavipes. 

 However, it is quite probable that R. flavipes requires access to 

 the soil only in order to obtain moisture, since it may be kept in 

 captivity indefinitely without access to soil provided sufficient 

 moisture is given it. Water, of course, is a direct food, though 

 some termites require very little of it. Amitermes tiibiformans 

 Buckley, for example, feeds principally on dry cow chips and 

 soil, but occasionally eats the roots of grass and other vegetation. 

 The manure is often carried down into chambers below the 

 ground. Many of the Termitida? feed on plants, sometimes at- 

 tacking flowers, shrubs and field crops. Fungus gardens are 

 cultivated by many speices of this family. These termites carry 

 large quantities of vegetation into their huge nests and take 

 advantage of the digestive action of the fungus on the hemicellu- 

 lose, the fungus and hemicellulose being eaten by them as food. 

 It is interesting to note that leaf-cutting ants (CEcodomd] do the 

 same thing. They carry thousands of leaves to their nest, where 

 they use them to make a compost heap, on which fungi, to which 

 the ants are very partial, grow r . Termites in captivity may be 

 induced to eat almost anything, but our knowledge reg.inlm^ 



1 Each of the adult sexual forms can reproduce itself and the forms below it in 

 rank. Thus, the first form adults reproduce all castes: the second form individ- 

 uals like themselves, third form, soldiers and workers; the third iim indivi<l 

 like themselves, soldiers and workers. 



