KEVISION OF NEAKCTIC TERMITES. 155 



development, ranging from partial mature pigmentation to the eye 

 to merely traces of the eye. 



In the forms which develop abnormally at the time of the quiescent 

 stage and final molt of the nymph of the first form there are various 

 forms which might be compared to the "club," "vestigial," and 

 "stumpy" wings of the mutants of DrosopMla melanogaster {ampel- 

 opMla) . 



The writer has, unfortunately, only preserved a small series of 

 these abnormalities which occur "wild," or in nature, as well as in 

 rearing cages or artificial colonies; these are mostly females — 

 5 females and 3 males. 



In artificial colonies nymphs of the second form sometimes at- 

 tain a deep, dark pigmentation. 



New or incipient colonies are established, after a short flight, by 

 the winged colonizing sexual adults of the first form, that swarm. 

 These colonies are formed in the earth imder decaying wood lying on 

 the gromid; in this wood; under loose bark on dead trees or logs; or 

 in crevices in trees — anywhere where there is a sufficient supply of 

 moisture. Withm a few days after the swarm the young parent adults 

 may be found in such sites, but they later disappear, penetrating 

 more deeply into the wood. 



These winged males and females of the fu^t form, after losing the 

 wings, become the reproductive forms of the normal or first form 

 type with wing stubs. Reproductive forms of this type are not rare 

 or difficult to find at the proper season in colonies of eastern United 

 States, but in the region of the Great Plains they must be far below 

 ground during dry seasons, since they have not been found as yet. 

 Conditions in these regions may be somewhat similar to those in 

 Sicily, where Grassi (1893) studied the habits of R. lucifugus Rossi, 

 and account for the fact that he was unable to find this type of repro- 

 ductive form. Grassi believed that the colonizing forms were all 

 destroyed or irretrievably lost at the time of the swarm. 



Two other types of reproductive forms are present in colonies of 

 Jlavipes, those of the second form, which develop from the nymphs of 

 the second form (Lespes) with short wing pads, and those of the third 

 form with no wings or wing pads but wholly apterous, resembling the 

 worker or "ergatoid." All of these reproductive forms have been 

 described and figured (Snyder, 1915 and 1916). 



The reproductive mdividuals of the second form may be abundant 

 in colonies; usually there are many females and but few males. 

 Sometimes a male of the first form may be present with a number of 

 females of the second form. 



Mature queens of the third reproductive forms have as yet been 

 found but rarely. Only one mature adult male though numerous 

 nymphs of this form have been recognized. 



