OBSERVATIONS ON SOME SOUTH AFRICAN TERMITES. 365 



fact, the only ones approaching Snieathman's picture have been 

 seen at Winterton, Natal (PI. XXYIII, fig. 1) ; these were 

 not more than 5 ft. high and 6 to 8 ft. through at the base. 

 Nests may be said to fall into two categories, being either 

 of ancient or modern formation ; the ancient types are repre- 

 sented both by isolated mounds and by " nest-sites," the 

 modern by rounded, pinnacled, pyramidal or conical masonry 

 mounds. 



The modern mound, which occurs commonly in the grass 

 veld (savannah) around Pretoria, is a wide, low, barren 

 mound, regulai-ly domed ; it is built of fine earth particles, 

 firmly cemented together, and presents an all but smooth 

 surface. Such mounds are 3 to 4 ft. in diameter and 12 to 

 16 in. high, and occur within 50 to 100 paces of one another 

 (PL XXVI, fig. 8). Among them are to be found solitary 

 ancient mounds of a roughly conical form, of 3 to 4 ft. in 

 height, which are clothed with small, rough, stunted her- 

 bage, the roots of which penetrate into the matrix of the 

 mound and are not interfered with by the termites (PI. XXVI, 

 fig. 9). 



Isolated modern mounds are not common along the Natal 

 seaboard, where the species also abounds. Two, found in a 

 wattle plantation at Mount Edgecombe in a light sandy soil, 

 were regarded as less than seven years old. These (PI. XXVI, 

 figs. 10 and 11), although composed of sand particles, were 

 extremely hard, but they showed weathering. One, roughl}^ 

 rounded, 2 ft. high and 3 ft. in diameter, was upon the edge 

 of a slope and the lower base had extended 18 in. by 

 weathering. The other, an acute regular cone, 4 ft. high 

 and 4 ft. in diameter at the base, stood upon a flat area and 

 was encircled by a small buttress of recently weathered-off 

 pai-ticles, which extended 18 in. from its periphery. 



Sheltered in the natural bush at Bellair a recent mound 

 was examined which, upon certain information gathered on 

 the spotj was estimated at under ten years. This nest was a 

 regular dome 6 ft. in diameter and between 2 and 3 ft. high 

 (PI. XXVI, fig. 12). It was of extremely tough texture. 



