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



unpigmented apterous reproductive adult develops from an ap- 

 terous nymph, while the pigmented winged adult develops from 

 a nymph with long wing-pads. It is not known what nymph is 

 the prototype of the pigmented apterous reproductive adult of 

 Zorotypus snyderi Caudell. 



The Methods of Colonization (Formation of New Colonies). 



Flight of the Winged Colonizing Forms of Termites. 



The terms "swarm" and "nuptial flight" are neither appro- 

 priate in referring to the emergence of the winged sexual adult 

 termites, which is merely a colonizing flight and an aid in the dis- 

 persal of the species. In case of species of Reticulitermes , after a 

 short, irregular, unsteady flight, the males and females alight on 

 the ground and separate into pairs. There is a marked sexual at- 

 traction and the males follow the females about. The females 

 find a suitable site for the new colony and the pair becomes estab- 

 lished. Sexual mating or copulation does not take place at the 

 time of the swarm, which is, therefore, not a "nuptial flight." 

 Neither does copulation take place immediately after the swarm, 

 but only after the pair are established in the new colony and the 

 sexual organs have matured. Usually males and females from 

 the same colony mate, but sometimes they mate with individuals 

 from nearby colonies which are swarming at the same time. 



These insects that have taken this flight never return again to 

 the parent colony, or again congregate in the same colony as does 

 the honey bee, but form new colonies. 



Usually the colonizing adults of the same species make their 

 first flight, which is numerically largest, at the same time in a 

 wide area of country. This annual production of winged sexual 

 adults in enormous numbers is undoubtedly for the further dif- 

 fusion and perpetuation of the species; a wider diffusion can be 

 accomplished by flight than through subterranean tunnels. Fur- 

 thermore, places otherwise inaccessible can be reached; for exam- 

 ple, some termites have colonies in the buttresses of the few 

 remaining large bald cypress trees (Taocodium distichum) in Lake 

 Drummond, Dismal Swamp, near Wallacetown, Va. 



Unless carried by the wind, termites do not fly very far. The 

 great majority of the colonizing adults of species in the genus 

 Reticulitermes and other subterranean species, after the short 

 vacillating flight, alight or fall to the ground and lose their wings. 

 They then excavate cells in or under decaying wood lying on the 

 ground. 



The night-flying species of the family Kalotermitidae are stronger 

 fliers; they retain their wings until they have located a suitable 

 place to excavate a cell in wood. 



