BY WALTER W. FROGCxATT. 4 33 



common idea that some nests contained hoth pike-headed and 

 scissor-jawed soldiers, but it is now known that this is not the case, 

 the Eutermes communities being quite distinct from those with 

 double-jawed soldiers. 



The Eutermes build two kinds of nests, or rather similar nests 

 in different situations, either terrestrial or arboreal. Those built 

 on the ground are most common about S3^dney, and are formed 

 over a small stump, ne%'er more than two to three feet and a half 

 in height, perfectly round at the base, with the summit rounded 

 and dome-shaped. They are generally dark brown or black, e^en 

 the outer surface being an admixture of earthy and woody matter, 

 and often ^vith hardly any earth in their composition. There are 

 no enveloping walls. The true nest starts from the surface, the 

 whole being full of cells and chambers, though they are fewer and 

 the nest much harder and tougher on the surface; working 

 towards the centre the soft papery structure (similar to that of 

 the large nests) is found — "the nursery." The queen and eggs are 

 not very far away from the nucleus, but the terraced portion is 

 not of the same regular formation as that of the large nests, and 

 there is virtually no distinct " royal chamber," but the queen is 

 found about the centre of the low, flat chambers. In one nest I 

 found three well-developed queens, all laying eggs, and w^ithin three 

 or four inches of each other l^ut separated by overlying terraces. 

 The bulk of all these nests is almost all woody matter which has 

 been passed through the bodies of the termites and been voided by 

 the workers; yet if a terrestrial nest be cut down on one side they 

 will rebuild it with grains of sand or earth cemented together with 

 excreta. Ridley,^" speaking of the Malay Peninsula, says that 

 the termites do not live in the sandy soil. This is not the case 

 in Australia, for I have found Eufprmes nests in almost pure sand 

 at Botany Bay, near Sydney, which though when first opened 

 were constructed of wood}^ matter, yet two months afterwards one 

 was re1:>uilt with sand cemented together into a solid mass. 



* H. N. Ridley. The Flora of P:a.stern ISIalaya. Trans. Linn, Soc. Vol. 

 (2nd Ser.) ill. p. 270, 1893. 



