430 AUSTRALIAN TERMITID.fl, 



termites guarding the openings and not letting anything come out. 

 Upon cutting down the walls these openings were found to run 

 into low but broad roadways extending right through into the 

 heart of the nest thronged with winged termites waiting until 

 the withdrawal of the guards at the gateways. As soon as a 

 breach was made in the walls they commenced to swarm out from 

 all parts of the nest, and we were soon enveloped in a cloud of 

 black winged termites buzzing about and dropping all round, 

 causing quite a distinct noise, audible at a distance of several 

 feet, an immense number falling to the ground. These winged 

 specimens were found in chambers and passages all over the nest. 

 Previously in the vicinity of Sj^dney I had noticed larvfe with 

 rudimentary wings in the early part of the year, but in their 

 earlier stages the wings grow very slowly until after the winter 

 months are over. Termites were noticed flying about near Sydney 

 on the 2nd and 3rd of November in great numbers. 



As to the age of these large termitaria, it could only be positively 

 ascertained by the extended observations of a resident in termite 

 infested country. But out of a great number I have opened out 

 I have only found one deserted, and it was only on cutting a 

 portion of it down that I discovered this fact, for to all outward 

 appearance it did not differ from the inhabited nests. 



Smeathman and Savage, writing on the celebrated Terynes 

 hellicosus, state that the fullgrown queen lives for five years, the 

 former being responsible for the statement that she lays 60 eggs 

 a minute and never stoj)s (presumably during the five years). 

 Though he produces no evidence for this statement, it has been 

 copied into nearly all the popular works and text books on 

 entomology up to the present date, even appearing in Kirby's 

 Text Book, published in 1885. As the working community of 

 the termitarium have a fresh supply of females to come forth 

 every season, and also very often a number of supplementary 

 queens in the nest (I have obtained 10 specimens of these queens 

 from one nest, which are I believe perfectly distinct from the 

 ordinary winged queens, as they are not recruited from the winged 

 forms but produced directly from the egg); it is therefore pretty 



