160 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



As previously stated, the rate of egg laying is slow. Six to twelve 

 eggs compose the first batch of the young royal couple in incipient 

 colonies. There is no data on the rate of egg laying in well estab- 

 lished colonies and, while probably very great in long-estabUshed col- 

 onies, it does not approach that of tropical species of termites. In 

 large colonies thousands of eggs are often present. The only data 

 at hand is that relating to egg laying under artificial or abnormal 

 conditions. On June 23, 1916, at Dead Run, Virginia, a first-form 

 queen (R.flavipes), 15 mm. in length, 4 mm. in width (measured after 

 being preserved), was found in a cell in an oak stump, in the solid 

 outer layers of the wood, about 1 foot above the ground. The queen 

 was placed in a vial at 11 a. m. and at 3 p. m. the queen was dead 

 and 30 eggs were in the vial. 



The period of maximum egg production is during the warm months, 

 that is, the middle of May to early September, near Washington, 

 District of Columbia, and in the southeastern United States. In arti- 

 ficial colonies in heated buildings eggs have been found during every 

 month of the year. 



The egg is white, reniform, and approximately 0.68 mm. in length, 

 but varies in size. 



All the eggs do not hatch at the same time, and the nymphs are 

 to be found in various stages of development, hence the workers and 

 soldiers do not all mature at the same time. Nymphs are to ^e found 

 in molting quiescent stages from early May tiU the middle of Septem- 

 ber in the vicinity of Washington. 



References to biological or economic literature. 



1858. Fitch, A. Trans. N. Y. State Agr. Soc, vol. 17, p. 694 (1857). 



1858. Hagen, H. a. Linnaea. Entom., vol. 12, pp. 184-5 (1857) { Te)-m£s flavipes 



Kollar). 

 1860. Hagen, H. A. Linnaea. Entom., vol. 14 (1859) (Nachtrag), pp. 107-8. 

 1860. ScuDDER, S. H. Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 7, pp. 287-8. 



1876. Hagen, H. A. Amer. Nat., vol. 10, No. 7, pp. 401-410, July. 



1877. Grant, R. D. Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, vol. 3, Journ. of Proc, p. cclxix, 



Nov. 19. 

 1877. Leidt, J. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 29 (for 1877), pp. 146-9, 

 June 26. 



1877. Riley, C. V. Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, vol. 3, p. 269, Dec. 



1878. Hagen, H. A. Proc. Soc. Nat. Hist. Bost., vol. 20, p. 118, Nov. 27. 

 1878. LiNTNER, J. A. Entomology. Proc. Albany Inst., vol. 2, pp. 48-50. 

 1881. Leidy, J. Journ. Acad. Sci. Phila., ser. 2, vol. 8, pp. 425^7, Feb. 

 1883. Packard, A. S. Third Rept. U. S. Ent. Commis., pp. 326-329. 

 1885. Hagen, H. A. Can. Ent., vol. 17, No. 7, pp. 134-6, July. 



1885. Hubbard, H. G. Insects Affecting the Orange, chap. 9, pp. 121-5. 



1887. ScuDDER, S. H. Can. Ent., vol. 19, No. 11, pp. 217-8, Nov. 



1889. Atkinson, G. F. Some Carolina insects. 1st Rpt. So. Car. Exp. Sta. for 1888, 



pp. 19-56. 

 1889. Casey, T. L. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., vol. 4, pp. 384-387, March. 

 1889. Schwarz, E. A. Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., vol. 1, No. 3. pp. 160-161, March 30. 



