270 PKTCH : THE FUNGI OF TERMITE NESTS. 



instance which suggested any selection. Some, which attempt- 

 ed to enter when the workers were closing the entrances, were 

 walled up in the clay. 



When ;ill the holes were thus closed, except for the small 

 openings previously mentioned, the workers and soldiers 

 organized processions which wandered apparently aimlessly in 

 the neighbourhood of the entrances. At 8.50 all the holes 

 were completely closed, but there seemed no diminution in the 

 number of insects outside, and at 10.45 p.m. several hundreds 

 were still wandering about within afoot of the not. accom- 

 panied by four wingless and two winged males or females. 

 There was no trace of them next morning. 



Though these two nests of Termes redetnanui are on either 

 side of the entrance to my bungalow, I had not observed any 

 flight of termites from them during the previous 18 months. 



The importance of this flight in the economy of the termites 

 is unexplained. The majority of the insects are undoubt- 

 edly eaten by lizards, toads, birds, &c, and those which 

 escape this fate cannot found a new colony without the assist- 

 ance of workers. Froggatt suggests that they are adopted 

 by wandering bands of workers. But what purpose is served 

 by this enormous waste of individuals is not clear. There can 

 be no question of overcrowding in a termite colony. It is 

 however not yet ascertained whether the production of winged 

 insects is a regular phenomenon, or whether it depends on 

 -oine condition in the nest which only recurs at irregular 

 intervals. The frequent occurrence of these flights immedi- 

 ately after rain is another obscure point which seems to suggest 

 that the winded termites are retained in the nest until the 

 weather is favourable, but out of the laige number of nests 

 which 1 have opened only two contained winged insects, and 

 these were not quite mature. 



