512 AUSTRALIAN TERMITID.E, 



tions, increasing in size with each successive moult, liut always 

 little termites from birth, even the soldiers in some species showing 

 the elongated form of the head long before they reach maturity. 



I consider they have a greater affinity to the Orthoptera than 

 the Neuroptera, and, without going into the anatomy of the 

 family, which I leave to an abler pen, would suggest that they 

 form a natural link Ijetween the two orders, coming after the 

 Furjiculariche and Blattldct^. 



I have followed Dr. Hagen in the terms used for the \ enation 

 of the wings and general structure. I try also to describe each 

 sj^ecies with its habits and life history when obtainable, so that 

 our coming entomologists will l)e able to recognise the species 

 without much difficulty. In a few instances I have descriljed 

 winged forms only, in the hope of afterwards getting the other 

 forms to complete their life-histories. I have a great number of 

 winged specimens evidently Ijelonging to different species that I 

 retain till I have completed the series for the -various localities 

 from which they were taken. 



Family TERMITID^. 



Perfect insects slender, with a rounded head, and large com- 

 pound eyes more or less projecting on the sides of the head; ocelli 

 two or in some groups wanting; antennj^ long and slender, con- 

 sisting of from 9-31 or more moniliform joints; jaws stout and 

 short, with a number of pointed or angular teeth covered from 

 above with a large rounded labrum. 



The head is attached to the thorax by two very large sclerites 

 i:)laced on either side of the under portion of the head. Thorax 

 moderatelj' large, with the prothorax very distinct and character- 

 istic in the different genera, sometimes heart-shtxped, lobed on 

 either side, or saddle-shaped; meso- and metathorax each bearing 

 a pair of flat wings of uniform size resting over each other, and 

 extending beyond the tip of the abdomen. Their venation is 

 simple, consisting of four main parallel nervures, termed the costal, 

 subcostal, median and subinedian, which send out a number of 



