IJY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 427 



into a hard papier-mache-like substance. The foundations of the 

 smaller mound nests are commenced at the base of a stump or 

 thrown up from under a fallen log. A correspondent in Ivim- 

 berley, W.A. (W. O. Manbridge), tells me that a species there 

 forms its nest over the spinifex bushes. I have examined a great 

 number, all of which give proof of this, and they can be found in 

 all stages of growth. Though later writers have doubted the fact, 

 Hooker* as early as 1855 wrote that the Indian species always 

 commenced their nests over decaying woody or vegetable matter. 



That the different species have peculiar ways of their own when 

 forming their mounds must be allowed, but the internal archi- 

 tecture of all of them is based upon one uniform plan, and as 

 an illustration of this I will describe the commonest large earth 

 covered nest found in New South Wales. 



During a visit to the Shoalhaven district towards the end of 

 last year I had ample opportunities of examining a number 

 of these large nests, which are scattered thickl}^ over all 

 the open forest countr}^ along the river, but are seldom 

 found towards the top of the ranges, the nests of the smaller 

 Eutermes taking their place. Roughly speaking, the average 

 is about one nest varying from three to seven feet in height 

 to every four ■ acres. They vary a little in outward shape, 

 but a well-designed nest about six feet in diameter at the base 

 will run up nearly the same height, with a slight slope on the 

 sides to the apex, w^hich is dome-shaped, not more than three feet 

 in diameter. The enveloping walls consist of the surface soil only 

 (a pale yellow sandy-brown) very hard on the w^eatherworn 

 surface, but much softer when cut into. The basal portion of the 

 walls are very much thinner than the dome-shaped summit, the 

 lower portion of the wall often not being more than a foot in thick- 

 ness, while the summit has a two-foot wall over it. All this earth 

 is gathered from the surface by the termites and not mined from 

 below, as many popular writers have asserted. In this locality 

 this is plainly demonstrated, for three inches below the surface 



* J. D. Hooker. Himalyan Journals, London, 1855, Vol. i. p. 18. 



