The Termites, or White Ants 105 



soon fall to the ground, but others may fly a mile. The swarm is pursued 

 by birds until dark, and then bats take a turn at the chase. The few ter- 

 mites that escape fly from tree to tree, seeking a spot of decaying wood. 

 Heath has noted them dashing against door-knobs and nail-holes and against 

 discolored spots on trees and logs, in their search for a place where decay 

 has begun. After finding a suitable spot they usually shed their wings, 

 not by biting them off, as said of some species, but by curving the abdomen 

 until it rests across the wings of one side and then moving backwards 

 and sidewise until the wing tips are brought against some obstruction, 

 thus causing the wings to buckle and break along the transverse suture or 

 line of weakness at the base. Sometimes the wings are not shed until after 

 the nest is begun. The spot is usually selected by the female, and she begins 

 the mining and does most of it. She is accompanied by one or more males, 

 who may occasionally help in excavating. When the burrow is large enough 

 for two, one male usually crowds in beside the queen and fights off the others. 

 Sometimes two males may remain with the queen; Heath thinks that such 

 a condition may last for a year or more. He has found a few cases where 

 two, three, and even six pairs live in company. The actual mating does 

 not take place, probably, until some time after the nest is begun. Heath 

 has noted pairing from a week to a fortnight after swarming. 



The egg-laying may be long postponed. Usually, however, about two 

 weeks after pairing the first egg is laid, and from one to six are deposited 

 daily until the total number amounts to from fifteen to thirty. When the 

 habitat is unusually moist the royal pair may remain together for a year 

 without producing young. Heath has found the Termopsis royalties to 

 mate readily in captivity, and has had more than 500 pairs of primary kings 

 and queens in excellent condition after a year of captivity. Royal pairs 

 with small colonies are readily found by stripping off the bark of trees from 

 three to nine months after the swarming period. Heath has been the first 

 to find actual egg-laying queen termites in this country. 



After from fifteen to thirty eggs are laid the laying ceases, and the 

 parents give their time to enlarging the nest and to caring for the eggs, 

 which are kept scrupulously clean, and frequently shifted from place to 

 place in the nest. The young are all alike when first hatched. After three 

 moults, one of them appears as a large-headed individual, and after three 

 more moults develops into a perfectly formed soldier, although little more 

 than one-half the size of the soldiers in old communities. Three months 

 later another soldier appears, larger than the first, and later others still 

 larger, until after a year the full-sized form appears. The first workers, 

 too, are smaller than the later ones. Nymphs, i.e., young of the winged 

 individuals, do not appear until after the first year, so that the swarm of 

 winged individuals cannot leave a nest until the end of the second year of 



