NOTES ON TEEMITES FROM CEYLON. 107 



into the opening of their tunnel. The next night, at about 

 9 P.M., they were again to be found on the leaves; but, on 

 being illuminated, beat a retreat as on the previous night. 

 They were again feeding at the same place half an hour later, 

 thickly covering the leaves and stems of the plants. In the 

 morning the foraging party had disappeared and the opening 

 from which they had emerged the night before was closed, but 

 no heap of earth was left on the surface. At the other openings 

 larger or smaller heaps had been built, and the termites were 

 at work upon these until about 8 a.m. This open foraging 

 of Eut. rubidus is very remarkable, as Eutermes — with the 

 exception of the monoceros group, which is, at least biologically, 

 entirely separated from the rest — are never found in the open, 

 but in logs, stumps, and other decaying wood, to which they 

 lead their tunnels. 



Unfortunately, it was impossible to dig open their nests, as 

 Eut. rubidus selects places where they are under the protec- 

 tion of Road Committees or other authorities, which would 

 look somewhat askance at anyone who might attempt to 

 undermine the roads in search of the nests — a yet unrecorded 

 form of adaptation ! 



Eutermes escherichi, Holmgr. 



Only quite recently (in 1910) this species was discovered 

 by Escherich in a nest of Termes obscuriceps. He found a 

 numerous colony (workers and solders) not far from the 

 central part of the mound, in a separate sponge-hke nest built 

 of earth. He further states that in the same mound one of 

 the upper comb-cavities was filled by a black carton nest, the 

 carton being mostlj'^ cemented to the walls of the cell, which 

 was covered with a dark '' wall-paper." No inmates could be 

 found, either in the cell or in the proper nest. " As the 

 Eutermes are chielij^ carton manufacturers," continues 

 Escherich, in his account, " and as I never found such a nest 

 in any other mound, and finally I never again came across that 

 Eutermes, I consider it not improbable that this species was 

 the builder of the carton nest, and — perhaps chased from it — 

 settled down in another part of the mound, where, for lack of 



