110 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 



EuTERMES LACUSTEis, Bugnion, 1912. 

 ( = Eutermes greeni, Holmgren, 1912). 



On an excursion to the top of Hantana (a mountain of about 

 4,000 feet elevation, situated near Peradeniya) I discovered, 

 in the jungle at the summit, a large tree up the stem of which 

 a gallery was ruiming. An inspection of the gallery proved 

 that it emerged from the soil, ran about half-way round the 

 base of the stem, forming there two enlargements, and then 

 ran directly upwards. When opened, a number of termites — 

 partly workers and partly soldiers — emerged from this gallery. 

 The latter surprised me by the very conspicuous dark colour 

 of their heads, a character known in but a single species of 

 Eutermes from Ceylon, viz., lacustris. But this species had 

 been described by Dr. Bugnion from the low-country, and 

 Dr. Holmgren had received specimens from Mr. E. E. Green 

 which were also collected in the low-country. These are the 

 only records about this species. A comparison with the 

 description and the types of Dr. Bugnion and of Dr. Holmgren 

 proved it to be identical with lacustris. This identification 

 was subsequently corroborated by Dr. Bugnion himself. Dr. 

 Holmgren, ignorant of Dr. Bugnion's pubhcation (June, 1912), 

 had believed the species to be a new one and included it in 

 his " Termitenstudien," Vol. III., under the name of Eut. 

 greeni. 



Some time later I ascended Hantana again, with the object 

 of further investigating this interesting species and, if possible, 

 of finding the nest. In this I was successful, as I first found 

 another gallery on a tree some twenty yards distant from the 

 first, and not very far from it the nest perched on a Ficus tree. 

 It was rather large and built between two forking branches, 

 some twenty-five feet up, with a gallery leading to the ground. 

 My cooUes were able to lower the nest and to transport it 

 safely to the laboratory, with the loss only of the natural 

 cover, which was exceedingly brittle. The dimensions of the 

 nest were as follows : — Circumference 76 inches ; long diameter 

 26, short diameter 20, and height 1 6 inches. It was constructed 

 in the usual Eutermes style, i.e., the whole consisting of a 

 system of numberless small cavities made of some woody 



