380 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV. 



either killed off or dying in the attempt. It is to ensure the survival of 

 the few that in all probability such enormous numbers of the winged in- 

 dividuals are provided. After return to the nest the body of the queen 

 begins to swell up by a distension of the membrane between the ehitinous 

 plates, until it becomes like a sausage 2 — 3 inches in length, with 

 the minute head and thorax at the top. (See fig. 24e.) She then lays a 

 number of eggs daily, continuing this performance for a long period 

 of time„ 



Termites never expose themselves willingly to daylight (except the 

 kino- and queen during the nuptial flight) and consequently the workers 

 make galleries to move about in. For their nests they build mounds of 

 different shapes and sizes, these being sometimes several feet high. Such 

 mounds are to be seen commonly over the whole of the warmer parts of 

 India. They are formed of particles of earth worked up into a material 

 which dries as hard as stone. Their nests are also made in the interior of 

 trees, the wood being gnawed away and replaced by mud ; beams and 

 wooden floors of houses, etc., are also made use of in this way. When 

 attacking a structure, such as a post, the insects always work on the unex- 

 posed sides and in the interior, being very careful to leave all the external 

 portions of the wood intact. This habit of theirs occasionally leads to 

 serious accidents, roofs or heavy beams, etc., apparently sound, falling in 

 without a moment's warning owing to their supports having been, unseen, 

 entirely undermined by this pest. In the forest large branches of trees 

 may be seen to occasionally fall in this way, and examination shows that 

 the apparently sound though dead woody branch is but a mass of earth 

 enclosed in the outer shell of rough bark, the entire interior having been 

 removed and replaced by mud, every particle of which has been taken up 

 the tree by earthen galleries running up, if the tree is still alive and 

 healthy, on the outside of the bark. 



Termites have also been reported as attacking- seedlings of various 

 species of trees, shrubs and crops, eating off the bark and thus killing the 

 plants. An example of the damage they are capable of doing in this 

 way has been recently brought to my notice. In the Lachiwala nursery 

 in the Dehra Dun Division some young rubber plants of as much as 5 ft. 

 in height and quite healthy were attacked by these pests and killed 

 within a few weeks. An examination showed that the lower part of the 

 stem just above the surface of the soil had been surrounded with earth 

 and the bark beneath entirely eaten off two-thirds of the circumference 

 of the stem, whilst in addition the woody interior had been badly riddled. 

 The attack was not noticed until the plants began to bend over and die. 



