BY WALTER W. FIIOOGATT. 



749 



clypeus very large, convex, broadly oval, rounded on the sides; 

 slightly truncate in front; labrum narrow, rounded in front; jaws 

 stout, short, with two finely pointed teeth at the extremity, the 

 lower one swelling out below with a small nipple, and an angulated 

 tooth at the base. Thorax small, flattened on the dorsal surface, 

 rounded behind. Legs rather short. Abdomen large, obese, and 

 shorter than usual. 



//«6.— Kalgoorlie, W.A. (from nest; Mr. G. W. Froggatt); 

 Paisley Bluff, McDonnell Ranges, Central Australia (Professor 

 Spencer). 



.Spechnens of all forms of this species have been forwarded to 

 me by my father, who says: — "It is the only mound-building 

 species found in the Kalgoorlie district. The nests vary from a 

 few inches in height and the same in diameter to 10 inches high 

 and a foot in diameter at the base. I have seen none larger, and 

 they are always situated under low scrubby bushes. When I 

 first came to this district in the hot weather these nests were 

 uninhabited, and the outer walls were so thin and dry that they 

 crumbled under one's hand. Early in March we had some heavy 

 thunderstorms that washed the outer shell off the nesta, so that 

 they look like a piece of coarse sponge full of irregular holes. 

 After the storms the termites suddenly appeared, and on March 

 19th I found them mending up the walls of the nests, which, when 

 restored, were of an irregular pyramidal form. I obtained workers, 

 soldiers, and a few immature winged forms, but could not find a 

 queen in a number of nests examined. After breaking up a nest 

 I saw a great number of workers running about with small white 

 particles which might have been eggs, but in all the nests there 

 are great quantities of small grey globules which appear to consist 

 of chewed up grass." 



In the following October my father obtained a fine collection 

 of winged forms, and also a lot of the "grey globules" before 

 mentioned; the latter were submitted to Mr. H. G. Smith, of the 

 Technological Museum, who analysed them, and informed me that 

 they were simply masticated grass rolled up into little pellets. 



