PROC. EXT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 22, XO. 6, JUXE, 1920 137 



arated and displaying the white pleural tissue between. No eggs 

 had been laid since those deposited in July; during this time the 

 male continued to cohabit with the female and both adults were 

 active. 



Thus it will be seen that development under the foregoing con- 

 ditions is at best a slow process. The male and the female are 

 equally important in the establishment of the new colony and in 

 the independent rearing of the first brood of young. This brood 

 is reared within the confines of this small chamber. 



On February- 21, 191.3, nine or more additional eggs were ob- 

 served in a cluster near the cell of the above mentioned pair. On 

 February 24, the first recently hatched young were observed. 

 The abdomen of the queen at this time was not markedly dis- 

 tended. On May 16, freshly hatched young were again present 

 in this colony. On August 15, six eggs, as well as recently hatched 

 young, were present in the cell. The male still cohabited with 

 the female, and the abdomen of this young queen was not as yet 

 markedly distended. 



While recently hatched young are active, they are dependent 

 on the care of the young parents, or later, upon the workers for 

 prepared food. 



Termites differ from other social insects, such as the ants and 

 the honey bee, in that the sexual relations of the male and the 

 female are continuous. Copulation probably does not take place 

 until about one week after the swarm and the establishment of 

 the pair in a cell in wood, but is repeated at irregular intervals 

 over a period of many years. Copulation and egg laying ceases 

 in the young colony after the first batch is laid and is not re- 

 sumed until this brood is mature. Thereafter copulation and egg 

 laying occur at shorter intervals and more frequently until with 

 the growth of the colony the abdomen of the queen gradually 

 enlarges, eventually becoming greatly distended, due to the enor- 

 mous development of the ovaries through the constant care and 

 feeding of the workers ; she no longer masticates wood for food (the 

 jaw muscles degenerate Thompson and Snyder, 1920), but is 

 ifed on prepared food by the workers. Such an actual post-adult 

 growth is rare among insects. 



However, queens of Nearctic species of termites never attain 

 the size of tropical species. Even in large, well-established col- 

 onies the rate of egg laying of single dealated queens is not re- 

 markable. However, in large long-established colonies tens of 

 thousands of eggs are present; unfortunately, the type of repro- 

 ductive forms present in such colonies is not known. 



Similar rearing experiments were carried on with other species 

 of Reticnlitermes with practically the same results. The following 



