BLACK TERMITE OF CEYLON. 411 



roads meet. The main drive is bordered on either side by a 

 shrubbery, and the part containing G and H, the fernery, is 

 closely planted with large trees, while trees A to E are situated 

 on open lawns, A being a large Ficus in which the nest was 

 situated. The dotted lines indicate the paths taken by the 

 termites. The shrubberies contam many large trees, in fact 

 they are dense belts of trees with an undergrowth of shrubs, 

 and other large trees are scattered over the lawns, but only 

 those marked B to K were visited. The longest excursion was 

 to K, a distance of about fifty yards. 



For weeks together the termites gathered food from the 

 higher branches of A, and probably only went further afield 

 when that source of supply was temporarily exhausted. B 

 was first visited, and then F and G, these latter being probably 

 found by extending the foraging party from B. It seems to 

 be a general rule that new feeding grounds are found by 

 extending the old track rather than by striking out in a new 

 direction. F and G were rather poor sources of food, but they 

 were visited before C, on which food was abundant. But the 

 discovery of sources of food appears to be purely a matter of 

 chance ; there is no reason to believe that all the trees down 

 to K were tried and found wanting, and indeed many of them 

 were equally as good as K. Moreover, tree L, a large tree 

 covered with suitable food, was never found by the termites, 

 though nearer than H, G, or K. 



The following record will give some idea of the frequency of 

 these excursions, though it is incomplete, since it takes no 

 account, for the first six months, of excursions into the higher 

 branches of tree A in which the nest was situated. From June 

 6 to June 9, 1909, excursions were made daily to B. On June 

 16, two columns were out, one to B and the other to C ; but 

 on June 18 and 20 they wer^ collecting food from B only. 

 After that they did not leave their tree until July, visiting F 

 on the 2nd, G on the 5th, and C on the 13th and 14th. A long 

 interval now ensued, and they v/ere not seen away from the 

 nest again until November 1, when they were collecting food 

 from both F and C, On November 4 and 6 they visited G and 

 H, and again on the 12th. They were not seen again until 

 December 18. when they began to re-visit D, E, and C daily 



0i8)13 (r)3) 



