NOTES ON TEBMITES FROM CEYLON. 105 



earth were to be seen on the road, showing the work done 

 overnight by Eut. rubidus. I noticed that one of these heaps 

 was, as a rule, larger and higher than the others. They 

 consisted of loosely piled earth, with, usixally, a small opening 

 on the top. Inside, they were pierced by a tunnel, which in 

 some cases was branched. Once, on the last day of my stay 

 at Peradeniya, I noticed a rather large pile, about three inches 

 high, on one of the footpaths in the Botanical Gardens. 

 This pile was conical, rounded at the top, without any hole, 

 and cemented much more firmly than any other pile seen by 

 me. It was not unlike one of the cones that may be observed 

 in the early stages of the mounds of T. obscuriceps and 

 redemanni. When opened, it was found to be crowded with 

 workers of Eut. rubidus. A yard or so from this heap I found 

 another one thrown up on the turf. 



Escherich's observations on this species are here trans- 

 lated in extenso : — " The nest of Eutermes rubidus is under'- 

 ground, Avith several openings on the surface of the earth, 

 often surrounded by small craters of earth. In the vicinity of 

 Galle I found a nest of which the openings and the surrounding 

 space were covered by flat, brittle, earthy crusts. When I 

 destroyed one of these weak structures, soldiers were imme- 

 diately seen to emerge, both large and small ones, Eutermes 

 rubidus having two forms of soldiers which differ considerably 

 in shape and size ; the large soldiers keeping more in the 

 background. After the first alarm had quieted down the 



repairs were hastily undertaken, the soldiers forming 



a dense chain round the broken place. It is remarkable that, 

 with few exceptions, only the small soldiers were engaged in 

 this work, whereas the large ones had mostly retired. Was 

 this a mere chance, or is there a differentiation of work in the 

 two forms of soldiers ? I was unable to decide this point, 

 owing to insufficient materialfor observation, although the 

 latter eventuality does not seem to me to be unlikely. 



" The building was effected in a very simple manner : 

 between the soldiers, occasional workers came forward, holding 

 in their mandibles small crumbs of earth, which were deposited 

 at the edge of the building and then shghtly pressed on. 

 There was none of the abundant proctodseal or stomodseal 



P 6(5)13 



