PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 21, XO. 5, MAY, 1919 101 



United States, and rainfall is not a factor which influences swarm- 

 ing; in fact, I have never collected termites swarming during a 

 rain in eastern United States. Species of Reticulitermes earth 

 inhabiting termites of eastern United States -swarm on a sunny 

 warm day. Large, conspicuous termites swarm at night; small, 

 inconspicuous species swarm during the daytime. Nocturnal 

 swarming termites are attracted to lights in large numbers, 

 which is an aid to mating, by bringing the sexes together. 



Wing Venation. 



There is the usual reduction or loss of veins in the wings of 

 sexual adult termites from the lower to the simpler veined 

 higher forms. 



In the more generalized members of the order Isoptera (Masto- 

 tcrmes Froggatt), the humeral suture or line of weakness where 

 the wings break off after the swarm is present only in the fore 

 wings; but in the more specialized genera (Reticulitermes} it 

 exists in the hind wings as well. In Termopsis angusticollis 

 Walk, there is a complete humeral suture in the forewing, as in 

 Mastotermes, and in the hindwing the anal area is crossed by a 

 suture that appears to be the beginning of a humeral suture. 

 In Reticulitermes there is a complete humeral suture in the hind 

 wings as well as in the forewings (Comstock, 1918). 



After a short weak flight the swarm the subterranean 

 species of Reticulitermes soon fall to the ground and lose their 

 wings; species of Termopsis have a longer, stronger flight and 

 do not lose their wings until they have located a new colony under 

 bark of a tree or log. Species of Amitermcs belonging to the 

 highest termites, in the southwestern United States sometimes 

 lose the wings while in the air, during the swarm. 



Mobility of the Reproductive Forms. 



Queens of all three types of reproductive forms of Xearctie 

 termites never lose their power of locomotion as do the queens 

 of tropical species which are imprisoned in a permanent central 

 royal cell in a stable colony. The Nearctic queens do not at- 

 tain the size, they are less than one inch in length, nor is their 

 rate of egg laying as great, as that of the tropical queens. This 

 must be an advantage since they are able to go below the frost 

 line in winter and adapt themselves to the most favorable con- 

 ditions of temperature and moisture when either above ground 

 in wood or in subterranean galleries. In tropical termites the 

 queen often reaches very large dimensions, several inches in length 

 and becomes an immobile egg laying machine. Adequate pro- 

 tection is afforded to these large queens by the huge mounds of 



