106 



BULI^TIiSr 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



in eastern United States. There are usually many females and a 

 few males congregated in a large chamber. Unlike the reproductive 

 individuals of the first form, these males and females have not the 

 chitinized parts deeply pigmented and have no functional eyes; the 

 compound eyes are palely pigmented. The characteristic pigmen- 

 tation is straw colored or grey. (Fig. 62.) They never leave the colony 







2 



Fig. 61. 



-1. Reticulitekmes flavipes. Dorsal vie'w of old deflated first form queen. 

 2. Dorsal view of old first form king. X 20. 



X12. 



unless by subterranean tunnels. A male of the first form is some- 

 times found in a colony with numerous females of the second form. 

 In this type of reproductive form the head, thoracic segments, 

 and abdominal tergites and sternites are both longer and broader 

 than in the reproductive forms that develop from nymphs of the first 

 form. The males of the second form reproductive type have the 

 abdomens compressed laterally, which gives the appearance of a 

 narrow, ridged back. 



