OBSERVATIONS OX SOME SOUTH AFRICAN TERMITES. 391 



Termes vulgai'is Hcwiland. PI. XXX, figs. 7-10. 



Mounds. — In Natal the masonry mounds of this species 

 are common, and more nearly approach mounds of the 

 natalensis group than do those of any other, being formed 

 of earth particles strongly cemented together, and presenting 

 a hard exterior and an interior with more or less vertically 

 placed channels. Often the mounds are very inconspicuous, 

 and the abode of a fairly large community may be overlaid 

 by quite a small mound which looks no more than a hard 

 clod of earth inset in the soil. A rough idea of the form of 

 these and the nests below them has already been given (3) ; 

 they need, however, more thorough investigation when oppor- 

 tunity offers. Although nests of 3 ft. in elevation have been 

 recorded (2), the highest met with at Pietermaritzburg was 

 18 in., and as this took the form of a low cone, it was first 

 thought to be a small nest of T. natalensis. Ordinarily 

 the large mounds of this species are circular, widely arched, 

 with a diameter of 2 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. 6 in. and an elevation of 

 4 to 6 in. No mounds of this species have been noticed in 

 Pretoria, but, as mentioned elsewhere, a moundless nest has 

 come under observation, and similar ones have been found at 

 Platrand, iVansvaal, and Tylden, Cape. 



Nests. — Unlike the nests oi the natalensis series, which 

 can be considered under three headings — mound, hive, and 

 galleries — the nest of vulgaris does not lend itself to such 

 treatment. One has to consider the whole and the relation- 

 ship of the various parts to one another. This is perhaps 

 best revealed by the description of a nest explored at Bellair 

 (PL XXX, figs. 8-10). In this case the whole nest arrange- 

 ment may be said to centre upon the fungus-garden, which 

 took the form of a large, flatly pyriform loaf, resting upon a 

 broad base and crowned with pinnacles, the central being 

 the highest. It measured 12 in. in height and 18 in, throuo-h 

 its greatest diameter. In common with other fungus-beds 

 of this species, it was more spongiform than any of the 



