BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 723 



the base, with several pale lines or sutures sloping down to the 

 base of the jaws; with a rounded short snout-like projection above 

 the base of the clypeus, forming a rounded opening connected 

 with a chamber in the head, from which the soldier when touched 

 ejects a globule of milk-like fluid; antennfe long, slender, IG- 

 jointed, similar in form to winged insect's, except the basal joint, 

 which springing from a slight depression on the side of the head 

 is somewhat longer; clypeus small; labrum triangular, broadest 

 at the base, slightly round and sloping on the sides to a point, 

 about a third of the length of the jaws; jaws sabre-shaped, with- 

 out teeth, except a round knob at the base; slender, curved and 

 crossing over each other at the tips when closed ; palpi long. 

 Prothorax not as broad as the head, rounded in front on either 

 side, arcuate in centre, with slight median suture, and curving 

 round on the outer margins to the apex. Abdomen narrow at 

 the base, swelling out in the middle, rounded at apex; cerci large. 

 Some specimens are striped down the centre of the back with two 

 parallel mottled bands; these are very distinctly defined on all 

 northern specimens. 



Worker. — Head pale yellow, with a white trilobed mark in 

 the centre and a dark spot on either side of the clypeus, the resti 

 white. Length 2^ lines. Head spherical ; clypeus quadrate, 

 longer than broad; labrum not as Inroad as the clypeus, spade- 

 shaped, rounded at the tip; antennae jointed, thicker than those of 

 the soldier; jaws short and stout, a curved fang at the tip, two 

 sharp curved teeth below, and two angular ones at the base. 

 Prothorax deeply concave in front, rounded on the sides and 

 behind. Abdomen large, elongate-oval; cerci small and slender. 



A description of the termitarium of this species has been given 

 in the introductory part of this monograph, and also in a popular 

 paper in the Agricultural Gazette. 



T. lacfeus is our commonest destructive species, and in all cases 

 known to me in which houses have been damaged by white ants 

 about 83'dney, I have found them infested with this termite. 



The soldiers are very plentiful in all the nests, and ai'e remark- 

 able for their ferocity, ne\er retreating when a colony is disturbed 



