124 PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 22, NO. 6, JUNE, IQ2O 



reproductive forms may be seen carrying away eggs and young 

 when the colony is disturbed. They solicit exudation from the 

 anus of the queen and also assiduously "clean," i. e., lick, over 

 the bodies of other workers or nymphs, brushing them with the 

 maxillary palpi. 



When the colony is broken into, both workers and soldiers 

 evidence alarm when near the reproductive forms, i. e., indulge 

 in convulsive jerky movements of the body a method of com- 

 municating news of the danger to other members of the colony? 



At the time of the emergence of the winged colonizing adults, 

 workers and soldiers congregate near the points of emergence with 

 heads toward the exterior. 



Reproductive forms of termites are often minus an antenna or 

 leg and nymphs of the reproductive forms sometimes have the 

 wing pads partially bitten off, also the prothorax at the base of 

 the lateral edges possibly due to eagerness for exudate. 



Most of these actions or facts can be explained as due to "tro- 

 phallaxis." In cases of the bitten wing-pads on the nymphs of 

 the reproductive forms, this may be merely incipient cannibal- 

 ism; cannibalism exists among termites. 



The termite Anoplotermes fumosus Hagen, of Mexico and Texas, 

 is usually found in the colonies of other termites or at least closely 

 associated with other termites in the same colony; the other ter- 

 mites are usually species of Amitermes. This may be termed 

 "social parasitism" or another form of trophallaxis. 



At any rate, these biological facts of behavior are just as inter- 

 esting, even if due to trophallaxis, as they were when explained 

 psychologically under the fantastical theories of the older writers, 

 which can now be exploded and decried. 



The Nymphs of the Three Reproductive Forms. 



The three forms of nymphs of the reproductive types of ter- 

 mites have a nomenclature corresponding to that of the mature 

 reproductive forms, i. e., first, second and third. The nymphs 

 of the first and second forms have been known since Lespes in 

 1856 recognized the second form and described it. Although the 

 adult of the third form has been known since the time of Grassi's 

 classic work in 1893-4 where he termed it a "complementary" 

 form the nymph has remained unknown until recently when dis- 

 covered by the present writer in 1917. 



The nymphs of these three forms will be described in detail 

 later; briefly, the primary form has elongate wing-pads and de- 

 velops into the winged, colonizing sexual adult. The nymph of 

 the second form has short wing-pads; it is slightly more elongate 

 than the nymph of the first form; these nymphs are much more 



