PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 22, NO. 6, JUNE, 1920 139 



and soldiers, their abdomens soon become shrunken and the 

 female dies. This is possibly due to insufficient nourishment. 

 Very often the male survives. 



Younger first form queens from small colonies, although the 

 abdomen becomes shrunken, continue to live with or without 

 the male since the number of workers necessary for their sup- 

 port is not so great. 



In the absence of the male the eggs which are laid by mature 

 queens are infertile; they do not hatch. 



In case of species of Termopsis large primitive termites the 

 initial rate of egg laying and development is somewhat more 

 rapid. As many as 15 to 30 eggs are laid by young dealated par- 

 ent adults, (Heath, 1903). 



Nearctic species of Kalotermes, which although some morpho- 

 logical characters make it appear to be more primitive than Ter- 

 mopsis such as the presence of ocelli are less primitive, as is 

 evidenced in the numerous, more sharply defined species of Kalo- 

 termes and in the reduction of certain parts. The initial rate of 

 egg laying of species of Kalotermes is about the same as that of 

 species of Reticulitermes namely 6-12 eggs in the first batch. 



Progeny of Second Form Adults. 



In certain colonies of termites, reproductive individuals of the 

 second form occur with a small proportion of males to a large 

 proportion of females. In the genus Reticulitermes as many as 

 eight males together with thirty-two females, and fifteen males 

 with twenty-eight females, both sexes of the second form, have 

 been found. 



In species of Reticulitermes, 40 to 100 reproductive individuals 

 of the second form may be present in the same colony, suitably 

 distributed by small groups in separate chambers in different 

 locations in the colony. 



Apparently these reproductive forms are more numerous in 

 small sized colonies than in older, long-established colonies. 

 Doubtless there is a high rate of mortality among young reproduc- 

 tive forms of this type. While the ovary development of mature 

 individual queens of the second form is not as great as in queens 

 of the first form, the habit of polygamy makes the rate of egg 

 laying in the colony greater in case of second form queens. 



Both field observations and breeding experiments seem to indi- 

 cate that the second and possibly the third forms produce, in 

 addition to the sterile workers and soldiers, only their own fer- 

 tile types and never nymphs of the first form. In other words, 

 the second and third form reproductive adults apparently breed 

 true to their fertile types. In some artificial colonies with pun-nt 



