234 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



been found elsewhere. But it cannot be supposed that other 

 fungus spores will not be introduced by the insects in their 

 passage in and out ; and indeed we find that one other fungus 

 is always present. 



If a comb is removed from the nest, and placed under a bell 

 jar, after clearing out all the termites, the spheres turn yellow 

 and decay, and are succeeded in a few days by white columns 

 of hyphae, which develop into branched conidial forms of Xylaria, 

 ten or more centimetres high. If the termites are left in the 

 comb they eat off all these xylarias as they appear. The 

 experiment may be varied by planting the comb in a pot. 

 In this case, the xylarias do not appear till after about fourteen 

 days, they never grow more than two centimetres high, and 

 in some cases they are preceded by a different conidial Xylaria. 

 For a long time these forms could not be found in the nest, 

 though they always grew from combs treated as described ; 

 and since under cultivation the complete ascigerous Xylaria 

 was never developed, there was just a possibility that, as 

 in Moller's researches, they might be a conidial form of 

 the agaric. 



The matter was cleared up somewhat unexpectedly. During 

 the monsoon rains, conidial xylarias appeared in large 

 numbers on small patches in the Botanic Gardens, and were 

 recognised as those which first appear when combs are 

 planted in pots. They were followed in a few days by a 

 separate ascigerous form, thus explaining why pot-grown forms 

 never developed into full grown xylarias. Finally, at the end 

 of a week, there appeared the conidial form which always 

 develops on combs under bell glasses. On digging down below 

 these patches deserted termite combs were found beneath each 

 one. There appear from the facts recorded here to be two 

 xylarias in the termite comb ; but further observations seem 

 to indicate that they are only forms of one species, Xylaria 

 nigripes, Klotzsch. 



The results may be briefly summarised as follows : — Termes 

 redemanni and T. obscuriceps cultivate on their combs a 

 mycelium which bears small spheres of " conidia." This 

 mycelium is that of an agaric, Volvaria eurhiza. The cultivation 

 never shows any " weeds " in the nests, but when the comb 

 is taken out — or when it is deserted by the termites — Xylaria 

 nigripes grows from it in abundance, proving that its mycelium 



