DEVELOPMENT OF THE ANTENN.^-: OF TERMITES. 243 



mature community is quite remarkable both as regards size 

 and antennge. From eighty pairs of images of this species, 

 placed in artificial cells in February of 1917, two couples 

 were maintained, one for fourteen, the other for seventeen 

 months. Throughout the first winter the pairs remained in 

 their cells making no effort to escape through the super- 

 imposed soil. It Avas not until spring that eggs were laid, 

 and by midsummer each couple had a small brood about 

 them. The young took approximately three months to ai'rive 

 at the adult condition, and at the beginning of the fourteenth 

 month the two colonies appeared to be well on the way to 

 becoming established. The small workers went foraging, 

 tunnelling through the surrounding soil and making their 

 way to the surfa.ce, where they attacked vegetable particles 

 placed there for them. In April one lot languished and the 

 parents died; two months later (July 10th, 1918) a like fate 

 overtook the second. The dwindling of the communities and 

 the death of the parents were subsequently traced to pre- 

 datory Acarinfe, doubtlessly introduced with the food 

 placed for the convenience of the working parties. 



The soldiers of these two incipient colonies were few and 

 of one gi'ade ; the workers, although very small, were in two 

 grades, and could be recognised macroscopically as majors 

 and minors. In the accompanying table certain of the 

 measurements and antennal details of the survivors are set 

 out under A, and against them for comparison, vmder B, 

 measurements taken from members of a large community 

 found near where the winged forms were captured. 



A. B. 



Soldier : 



Antenna} XIV .... XVII 



Head width, 102-114. mm. 2-25-312 mm. 



Mandibles, 0-8-0-89 mm. . . 1-37-1-69 mm. 

 Worker major : 



Antenna; XV, XVI . . . XVII, XVIII, XIX. 



Head width, 108-1-14 mm. lo-l'S mm. 

 Worker minor : 



Antennaj XIV .... XVII. 



Head width, 0-8-0'91 mm. . . IIO-ISO mm. 



