THE HABITS OF CALIFORNIA TERMITES. 5! 



nest and during this process apparently pays very little attention 

 to the one or more males that move about near her. On her 

 falls most of the work of excavation, at least during the first few 

 days, though occasionally when she comes to the outside after a 

 prolonged period of work one of her companions may excavate 

 for a time. In some cases one male appears to be more atten- 

 tive than the others which often go off on short trips to investi- 

 gate the cracks and crannies in the neighborhood and may ulti- 

 mately disappear altogether. In other cases they are driven off 

 by one male and again it sometimes happens that when the bur- 

 row becomes a sufficient size to accommodate two, a male takes 

 up a position with the queen and prevents, by fierce lunges, the 

 entry of another. In no case apparently does the female exer- 

 cise a choice in this first stage of colonization. 



Some males are seemingly of a milder disposition than usual, 

 for occasionally one finds two of them in company with one 

 female and, judging by the size of the colony, they have lived to- 

 gether in harmony for more than a year. At other times two 

 females may be associated with one male ; and in a few cases I 

 have found two, three and even six pairs living in company. 

 This happens more frequently in captivity, but in any case it ap- 

 parently disturbs the reproductive process, for the number of 

 accompanying offspring is unusually small. Where royal forms 

 are introduced from other nests a fight almost invariably ensues, 

 and is terminated only with the death of one of the contestants. 



It has often been noticed that the antennae of royal pairs are 

 invariably mutilated. They are, however, intact during the nup- 

 tial flight and for three or four days after the entrance into their 

 cell. On several occasions about this time I have seen one indi- 

 vidual repeatedly pass one of its antennae through its mandibles 

 at intervals of perhaps half a minute. Each time it would appar- 

 ently bite off a small -portion and instantly start backward about 

 half its length after the operation. It would then assume a stiff 

 statuesque position with its head rotated to one side or walk with 

 wobbling uncoordinated gait for a little distance before repeating 

 the process. At other times one individual while cleaning the 

 other would gnaw off the tip of the latter's antennae upon which 

 these same movements would result. The one so mutilated 

 would soon perform the same operation upon the other and so 



