402 CLAUDE FULLER. 



are present in the nest. Since after the nuptial flight has 

 taken place callow soldiers are soon to be found^ it is assumed 

 that for some reason the soldiei's are destroyed at this peiiod. 

 The soldiers are extremely cowardly, and always retreat 

 rapidh^ when a nest is broken into. This, together with 

 their scarcity, seems to indicate that bilobatus,asa species, 

 is not in any way dependent upon the soldier caste, and the 

 representatives which do occur are but relics of a former 

 economy. 



The winged insects are of two sizes, the male being very 

 much smaller than the female. When the adults are present 

 ill the nest it has a foetid and disgusting odour — a feature 

 never to be noticed at any other time. 



Eutermes trinervius [Rambur). PI. XXIX, figs. 13-17; 

 PI. XXXII, figs. 1-2. 



Apart from South Africa, the species ranges far afield, and 

 it is very widespread throughout the sub-continent, being 

 the commonest and most prevalent kind. 



It occurs all over Natal from within 100 yds. of high- 

 water mark to altitudes of 5000 to 6000 ft. It is, however, 

 much more abundant in the drier parts of the midlands (Klip 

 River County) than elsewhere, and is least common on the 

 higher altitudes. 



It is very common in the Transvaal, and abounds on high 

 altitudes (5500 ft.) under fairly severe winter conditions, 

 with the difference that these altitudes receive less rain and 

 mist than regions of the sa.me altitude in Natal, and are not 

 mountainous. In the Cape Colony it ranges from the Orange 

 River to the southern coast, but does not seem particularly 

 common in the extreme south-west. In the Karroo it is to be 

 met with, but always more abundantly in areas where 

 summer grasses gi'ow. 



In the Orange Free State the species abounds from east to 

 west and north to south. Through the middle region of the 

 plateau, which has a mean altitude of 4500 ft. (ranging from 



