102 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



into there is a short flight, followed by loss of the wings, after which 

 the male follows the female in the same manner as after normal 

 swarming. 



In the genera Termopsis and Kaloter^mes the males and females do 

 not run about in pairs; that is, no courtship takes place. (Havi- 

 land, 1902.) 



There is an enormous mortality among the winged colonizing 

 termites during and after the swarm, and a still further diminution 

 of their numbers takes place through the inability of some individuals 

 to become established under favorable conditions; j^et in spite of all 

 these losses some pairs are established and all the colonizing adults 

 are not "irretrievably lost." 



There is a considerable difference in the procedure of the location of 

 the site in the establishment of new colonies in the two families 

 Kalotermitidae and Termitidae, and this will be discussed under the 

 various species belonging to the two main groups: The forms which 

 inhabit both earth and wood, and those which inhabit wood only. 



Mating and Egg Laying. 



The dealation, courtship, and separation into pairs is followed by 

 the location of a favorable site for the new colony. 



The first coition probably occurs about one week after the swarm 

 in case of species of Reticulitermes (Snyder, 1915). 



Copulation, therefore, does not occur in the air during the swarming, 

 which is in no sense a marriage flight, nor immediately after the 

 swarm, but only after the establishment of the new colony and after 

 the sexual organs have matured. 



The manner of copulation of termites has been described by 

 Grassi (1893), Heath (1903), and Odenbach (Snyder, 1915). The 

 Rev. F. L. Odenbach, in describing the mating of reproductive 

 individuals of the second form of Reticulitermes jiavipes, on December 

 27, 1899, writes: 



The introduction is a lively play with feet and feelers, heads looking in opposite 

 ways, the bodies curved together so as to make a circle ; then the male slips along the 

 body of the female until the organs meet; then they stand in one line, heads looking 

 in opposite directions. The body is moved backward and forward, hinging on the 

 legs and finally to both sides, as if they wished to telescope the abdomens. Time of 

 connection, about one minute. 



In incipient colonies after the first coition, in case of species of 

 Reticulitermes, there is no further union until the first brood of young 

 has matured. After this, copulation is repeated at shorter intervals 

 and more frequently throughout the life of the pair, for, unlike the 

 honey bee, the male termite continues to cohabit with the female. 

 These intervals appear to be irregular. 



The reproductive forms are not necessarily monogamous; some- 

 times one male and two females, or the opposite, are found in the 



