OBSERVATIONS OX SOME SOUTH AFRICAN TERMITES. 897 



Haviland noted furthei" that ''the nests are sometimes built 

 practically on the surface of the ground, but they are often 

 some little distance below, occasionally several feet, the nest 

 beinfy an irregular cellular structure." Up to the present 

 only the surface nests have been found, but somewhat similar 

 nests of a closely allied species abound in the soil of the 

 Pretoria district ; these range from the size of a large egg to 

 that of a large cocoanut, and may be either superficial, 

 beneath stones, inset in the mounds of other termites, or 

 buried to some little depth in the surface soil. 



Without doubt sandy dunes, covered with scrub, are the 

 sites in which parvus flourishes best of all. At Scottburgh, 

 Natal, several nests were found amongst beach plants within 

 20 ft. of high-water mark, and one, but 15 ft. off, overhung 

 the beach (PI. XXIX, fig. 11). This was 11 in. in diameter 

 and quite globular. Originally built in the loose sand and 

 involving in its matrix several stems of beach plants, under 

 the stress of wind and storm it had become quite exposed. 

 The insects inhabiting it established communication with the 

 sand dune, from which it depended, by means of covered 

 ways along the supporting tangle of roots, as well as through 

 the interior of those that were dead. All other nests were 

 found loosely embedded in the soil ; so loose that they were 

 easily extracted whole The top of these nests usually pro- 

 jects a little above the surrounding soil, and has the appear- 

 ance of a weathered and rotten piece of black wood. Domed 

 nests are sometimes to be found, and these are obviously of 

 recent structure (PI. XXIX, fig. 12, h). The domes may be 

 3 to 4 in. above soil-level and have a cobble-stone surface 

 of an ashen grey colour (PI. XXXI, fig. 1). The underground 

 part of every nest found tended to become obconic, some 

 being elongated and others quite squat. In one instance a 

 domed nest when extracted resembled in shape a huge carrot, 

 18 in. long and 4 in. through at its widest diameter. 



The nests of parvus contain no provisions of an}' sort, but 

 the workers are animated food-reservoirs. The structure of 

 the interior is cellular ; the cells being for the most part 



