38 Claude Fuller 



of which part of each tibia and the whole of each tarsus was 

 yellowish.* 



Silvestri (1908) with specimens before him from Namaqualand 

 (Luderitzbucht and Steinkopf) reduced aurivillii to a synonym of 

 viator stating that it was clear from she description and the analyti- 

 cal table of Sjostedt, that the diflerence was one oi size only. 

 The writer has not seen any repudiation by Silvestri of his deter- 

 mination. But, as a footnote by no means germane to the dis- 

 cussion it appends, Sjostedt (19) 1) briefly states that in a pri- 

 vate letter to him Silvestri admits that he was wrong in reducing 

 aitrmllii to a synonym of via/o^. However, the Namaqualand 

 form which Silvestri had before him is distinct from viator. It is 

 referred to later as H. silvesirii. 



The description of viator given by the writer (1915) applies to 

 the form usually met with in the neighbourhood of Paarl and 

 Stellenbosch. The soldiers and workers from this district seem 

 t:> be regularly smaller in stature than those found at Malmes- 

 bury but the mandibles of the soldiers are not relatively straighten 

 The imagos from the two centres do not differ. 



As relatively large soldiers and workers have been collected 

 at Groot Drakenstein which intergrade between this smaller 

 (Stellenbosch, Paarl) and the large-; (Malmesbury) it is not 

 v/ise to separate the smaller although it might be considered, 

 tentatively, as H. viator f. hageni. 



In conclusion, I take as Hodotermes viator (Latr.) that species 

 found in the S.W. Cape to which the descriptions cited all apply 

 fairly well. It is a species that can only be satisfactorily re- 

 cognised by the following characters of the imago. 



Males often decidedly smaller than females. 



Above dark red-brown; below abdomen pallid, often a sordid 

 brownish yellow, always sharply contrasting with the 

 dark coloured legs. Pronotum not quite so dark as 



*Hageii states that nothing is known of the habits of viator and 

 qaestious the remarks of Burmeister. He presumes viator to be 

 the species referred to by Lichtenstein as working underground 

 in the vicinity of the Seacow River, a southern tributary of the 

 Orange River. The insect seen by Lichtenstein was no doubt a 

 Maorohodotermes. 



