OBSERVATrONS ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN TERMITES. 859 



land notes, bni-rows are made in the living wood, the invaded 

 parts subsequently decaying. It is further recorded as attack- 

 ing orange trees. The writer cannot help thinking that 

 Haviland was under some misapprehension regarding the 

 habit of this species, because those colonies which have come 

 under his notice have always been at work in dead 

 branches, either still attached to the tree or prone upon the 

 ground. The opportunity has not been found to make any 

 particular study of its habits. It may be interesting to add, 

 however, that a piece of infested wood collected in March and 

 left to dry out in a breeding cage, in Pretoria, contained live 

 insects, soldiers and nymphs, when opened during the latter 

 part of October. And further, nymphs and soldiers placed 

 during March in a glass tube with fragments of the wood 

 from which they Avere extracted were alive when last examined 

 (pJanuary 11th, 1915). During the whole of this period there 

 was no evidence to show that the insects had fed to any 

 extent. 



Tbe workings of this species in the wood take the form of 

 elongate, flattened chambers communicating with one another 

 by tubes of a nari'ow diameter. 



The following notes have been received from Dr. Warren 

 ou the observations of Dr. Conrad Akermaii of the Natal 

 Museum : 



" On March 1st, 191.3, a piece of dead branch (about 10 in. long and 

 3 in. in diameter) containing Calotermes was broken off a living tree, 

 at a height of about 5 ft., in the bush near Winkle Spruit on the Natal 

 coast. The branch was brought to the Natal Museum and sawn 

 through longitudinally. The wood had been considei'ably channelled, 

 and the insects were numerous : nymphs with wing-pads, nymphs with- 

 out obvious wing-pads acting as workers, soldiers and many small 

 young could be seen, but no eggs were observed. The two halves of 

 tlie branch were tied together with string and placed in an inclined 

 position in a glass jar without a lid. About an inch of water was 

 poured into the bottom of the jar, and the end of the branch was just 

 in contact with the water. The termites flourished, and large quantities 

 of faecal pellets continually dropped into the jar. In March and April 

 forty, or more, winged imagos emerged. From April 23rd to August 

 23rd there was a pause in the emergence of winged forms. 



