426 AUSTRALIAN TEUMITIDuE, 



district (where I spent over twelve months), and probably as far 

 as the De Grey River, all through the oi:)en forest flats and along 

 the edge of the sandy "Pindan" country are found numbers of 

 large broad nests, from five to six feet in height, rather constricted 

 at the base, but swelling out on the sides in rounded masses, 

 where additions have been made, while the summit is broad and 

 rounded, giving them somewhat of a mushroom-like appearance. 



As there are few or no trees over a belt of country to the 

 westward of the De Grey River for over three hundred miles, the 

 termites apparently disappear, nor can I find that they construct 

 nests or are at all noticeable in any other part of Western 

 Australia, but they have recently been reported as having 

 attacked the telegraph poles between York and Coolgardie. This 

 also applies to South Australia, though it must be remembered 

 that scattered bands of termites may l^e found in almost any part 

 of Australia which ma}^ attack an odd plank or tree, but they are 

 not in evidence as a serious pest. 



In the vast tracts of dry and sparsely timbered country in 

 central Australia, termites are naturally scarce, and probably 

 wanting altogether in many parts of it. I never remember seeing 

 a mound nest west of the Darling or even in the northern districts 

 of Riverina, but with further observations from my many corres- 

 pondents, I hope to enlarge our knowledge of their distribution 

 and supplement this necessarily rough sketch. 



Termitaria and their Structure. 



Broadly sjDeaking, termites' nests may be separated into three 

 different typical forms, each of which undergoes several important 

 modifications in outward appearance, but always has the same 

 internal structure. The first may be called the turret or regular 

 mound nests, varying from eighteen feet in height to a little 

 pinnacle only a few inches above the surface, and sometimes 

 simply a bald patch upon the ground. In these abnormally high 

 ones the clay is generally carried up the face of a dead tree, which 

 is gradually sheathed with this coating, while the trunk l)eneath 

 is changed nto triturated wood which in time becomes converted 



