356 CLAUDE FULLER. 



to flying Hodotermes by a large number of dragon-flies that were 

 hovering around one particular spot. 



"Winged forms. — They were emerging in considerable numbers 

 from ordinary foraging holes in the soil. There was a considerable 

 number of small mole-hill-like workings near by. The males and 

 females ran out of the holes, and took flight almost at once by jumping 

 a little distance into the air and then bringing the wings into action. 

 The distance flown could not be ascertained because the dragon-flies 

 captured a very large percentage of all the termites that took to wing. 

 Those that did escape did not fly more than, say, 30 ft. from the flight- 

 holes. They got rid of their wings in the ordinary way. The meeting 

 of the sexes was not observed. I think it likely, however, that the male 

 and female meet on the ground after losing their wings. Only a few 

 pairs could be found in the act of beginning to burrow. They were, 

 however, entirely alone, no soldiers or workers being present. 



"Workers. — Near the holes from which winged forms were 

 emerging there were many workers engaged in their ordinary work of 

 foraging. I did not actually see them carrying food into the flight-holes, 

 l)ut there were several other openings to galleries near by. There were 

 no workers at the flight holes while the males and females were emerging. 



" Soldiers. — A number of soldiers were found near the openings of 

 the galleries from Avhich earth-mounds had been thrown up. These 

 were about 10 ft. from the flight-holes. I was unable to get soldiers 

 from one or two flight-holes that I dug up. At any rate, it was easy 

 to get soldiers under the little earth-mounds near by, much more so than 

 when no flight is in progress. There were, however, no soldiers on the 

 surface of the soil. 



"It was remarkable how large a percentage of the flying termites 

 were captured by dragon-flies. They were mercilessly captured, their 

 abdomen was devoxu-ed in a very short time, and then the head, thorax 

 and wings were dropped. Frequently these " de-abdomened " termites 

 were seen frantically digging in the soil, obeying their instinct to fly, 

 drop and dig. In these abnormal cases, however, they forgot to search 

 for a mate first, and they did not drop their wings, probably because 

 they had no alidomen. Needless to say, they soon died. 



" Large black ants prowled around near the flight-holes and carried 

 off injui-ed termites or those that were unable to take flight soon 

 enough." 



Hodotermes viator [Latreille). PI. XXYI, fig-s. 6, 6a^ 



Qh, and 7. 

 A numbei' of images without wings which appear to be of 

 this species were collected for me at Victoria West during 



