OBSERVATIONS ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN TERMITES. 



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Terines latericius. — The mating of this species was 

 observed in Pretoria at dusk on December 4th, 16th, and 

 18th, 1914. The females were seen to alight first, taking 

 up an inverted position on pendulous parts of grasses and 

 herbage. Immediately on assuming this attitude they begin 

 to agitate their wings violently, and keep them in motion 

 until a male becomes associated with them. How long a 



Text-fig. 3. 



The muting of Termes latericius. AanclB. The female in the 

 calling attitude, violently agitating her wings, c. The sudden 

 discarding of the winos when the sexes meet. X |. 



female may go on agitating the wings without a male finding 

 her cannot be said, but one watched for twenty minutes 

 never stopped, and after dark was still unmated. 



The males seem to have great difficulty in finding the 

 females ; they fly low and incessantly over the tops of the 

 grasses, and again and again approach quite near to a 

 female, and even circle within a few inches around, only to 

 fly off again far afield. 



When mating was accomplished during twilight it was 

 noticed that the male flew in narrowing circles around the 



