OBSERVATIONS ON SOME SOUTH AFKICAN TERMI'l'KS. 405 



that were connected by runways. In the first series we 

 examined I had great difficulty in recovering some of the 

 queens; again and again I was about to give it up, bi^it kick 

 favoured and I found one queen over 12 in. below soil- 

 level." 



Haviland states that there is only one king and one 

 queen to a nest, that they generally live near the centre, and 

 when disturbed may escape into the surrounding soil. As a 

 matter of fact, the king is very seldom detected, whilst the 

 queen moves with such agility thac even when one has seen 

 her enter a lump of nest this often has to be broken to 

 fragments to capture her, so quickly are her efforts at con- 

 cealment manoeuvred. Placed upon a level surface the queen 

 cannot get along at all rapidly, but she can climb a wooden 

 upright. From this and the foregoing observations it is clear 

 that the insect is adapted to rapid progress in the peculiar 

 and involved galleries of the nest. Two queens have been 

 taken in one nest, but this is unusual. 



If queens are removed directly from nests and placed with 

 nest fragments and workers in a glass jar, egg-laying can be 

 readily observed, and the workers attend to the queen as if 

 nothing had happened. Feeding is continuous, and it is 

 seldom that there are not more than two workers in atten- 

 dance. The queen is fed with some reddish fluid of which 

 but a minute quantity is passed from the mouth of the worker 

 to that of the queen. An individual worker may give one, 

 two or three sips before retiring, and the queen may take two 

 or three sips from one attendant before turning to the other, 

 ■or she may sip from them alternately. A succession of 

 workers attend to the feeding, and when one retires another 

 takes its place. 



The eggs are extruded one by one and stick together in a 

 little parcel about the vulva. Never inore than ten to twenty 

 seem to accumulate, as workers aie constantl}' removing 

 them. The eggs do not separate away from one another 

 readily, and the workers endeavour to remove them with the 

 maxillte and not with the jaws ; it is only when the maxillte 



