878 CLAUDE FULLER. 



which overlie them (PI. XXX, fig. 1). These hillocks persist 

 not because of their inherent stability, but because of the 

 undistui'bed positions in which they are located, and the 

 shelter provided against the violence of rain and wind. The 

 trees beneath which they lie being of comparatively recent 

 growth (twenty to thirty years) the nests are necessarily 

 modern, and it is not difficult to decide that during recent 

 times the site they hold has not been previously occupied by 

 any mound-building termite. The hillocks are not masonry 

 moundlets; they resemble mole-hills except for the fact that 

 the earth-particles, of which they are built up, are loosely 

 cemented together. They are, therefore, of a temporary 

 nature, and weather away more or less slowly. 



In the case of some nests, protected by hedges, mounds 

 have already begun to form, and there is evidence that a 

 large mound w^ould ultimately accumulate, if the hedges were 

 left neglected and plants allowed to grow in the mounds and 

 so bind together the earth deposits. 



Incidentally it may be mentioned here that badius, like 

 T. natalensis, very frequently forms a nest in the soil below 

 stone-flagged floors ; in these cases there are large accumula- 

 tions of earth in open spaces below the flooring of the house 

 or abutting the outside of the building. The deposit below 

 the floor remains as it is placed, and is much traversed by 

 tunnellings through which the results of further excavations 

 are carried. Outside deposits are scattered or weathered 

 away unless placed among plants and creepers growing 

 against the exterior walls (PI. XXVI, fig. 18). 



Under nature conditions some nests are found in large 

 rounded mounds which form the core of isolated thickets of 

 trees or pai*k formations (text-fig. 10). Whether the colonies 

 in these mounds are as ancient as the sites they occupy is a 

 question which cannot be answered, but what is more than 

 likely is that these tree-spots originated long ago upon mounds 

 of natalensis or latericius, and the preseuce of the trees 

 induced badius to colonise them. Further, it is evident 

 that the mounds and thickets have only acquired their present 



