102 PROC. BNT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 21, NO. 5, MAY, 1919 



great hardness or by the large spherical tree nests of tough tex- 

 ture, in the case of species, the queens of which do not attain such 

 large size, but are over one inch in length. The queens of Nearctic 

 termites that live in wood only 1 are more mobile and their ab- 

 domens become relatively less distended than those of subter- 

 ranean species which are able to retreat to underground galleries. 



Apterous Reproductive Forms. 



Without going into the complex problems of polymorphism 

 sexual dimorphism, or phylogeny of castes, the following facts 

 are set forth. In the species Prorhinotermes simplex, whose 

 habitat is the Coastal Region and the keys of southern Florida, 

 and the West Indies (occurring mainly on islands), third form 

 (Thompson and Snyder, 1919) or apterous reproductive forms 

 are common. This may be an adaptation to the habitat; 

 it is frequently stated that wingless forms are more numerous 

 on islands, the winged forms being blown into the water. Colonies 

 of this species are liable to be caught up by the waters and scattered 

 broadcast. Such apterous forms are adapted to island life by 

 their lack of wings. The isolation helps to perpetuate them and 

 they are dispersed in drift-wood. 



So far as my own observations go, there are no third forms 

 in the Nearctic genera of the M etatennitidae Holmg. the higher 

 termites. In literature an "ergatoid" queen is recorded as 

 occurring in Eutermes Fritz Miiller, it may not however be a 

 typical third form but the second form with rudimentary wing pads. 



Soldiers with Wing Pads, Possibly Fertile. 



In colonies of Kalotennes that occur on islands, such as /\". 

 Occident-is Walk, from Angel Guardia Island in the Gulf of Mexico, 

 Lower California, and Kalotermes Schwarzi Bks. of the Florida Keys, 

 soldiers with rudimentary wing pads and deeper pigmentation, 

 are more common than usual, a probable ancestral condition; 

 sometimes all the soldiers of a colony have these wing pads and 

 the pads are also longer than usual. Possibly some of these 

 soldiers are fertile; Wheeler (1907) records workers and soldiers 

 with vestiges of wings in ants; he terms them "pterergates." 

 The fertility if established together with the vestigial wing 

 pads, should be looked upon as evidence of a primitive ancestral 

 condition, when all termites were winged and fertile. Heath 

 (1903) has recorded fertile soldiers in the species Teruwpsi* 

 angusticollis Walk, that produced "normal progeny." 



1 Family Kalotermitidae. 



