ON SOME AUSTRALIAN TERMITES. 387 



produced in excess of requirements. Tlie survivors may develop into sexually mature 

 insects of four kinds, namely, neoteinic, or supplementary, kings and queens or true 

 kings and queens. In the former (neoteinics) the wing-buds undergo very little 

 further development, and the eyes and chitinous parts become only partly pigmented. 

 After fertilisation the abdomen of the female becomes greatly enlarged, and she is 

 capable of laying a great number of eggs, which, in this species at any rate, produce 

 individuals of all castes. Those nymphs that are destined to develop into true 

 kings and queens continue to develop the wing-buds until, after a final moult, they 

 emerge as winged imagines, with pigmented eyes and chitinous parts. 



In all of the many scores of termitaria examined, the reprodifctive forms found 

 in each were either neoteinics only, or one true king, and from a few to over 100 

 neoteinic queens. True qiieens have not been found, nor have neoteinic kings been 

 observed in any nest in which a true king was present ; there are no queen cells or 

 nurseries in these termitaria, the ordinary flattened horizontal cells being utilised 

 as required. The ovigerous neoteinic queens are to be found scattered through 

 all parts of the nest, but generally near the walls. Each queen appears to preside 

 over a restricted area, in which the eggs and young larvae are to be found, the latter 

 in one or more small clusters about the size of a large pea. As the larvae develop 

 they spread out in all directions, mixing with the soldiers and workers. The king 

 is rarely associated with one of these queens ; more often he is to be found in one of 

 the larger cells with from 10 to 40 younger queens of various sizes, some only 

 recognisable as such, others apparently as fully developed as the egg-laying individuals. 

 Neoteinic kings, when present, occupy these cells and have not been found in cells 

 occupied by isolated queens. It appears that, as a rule, queens are fertilised and 

 attain nearly their maximum development before they migrate to other parts of the 

 nest to oviposit, and that they are not often re-fertilised from time to time, as is 

 believed to be the case with true queens of other species. The fact that old neoteinic 

 queens, i.e., queens with shrunken abdomens, have not been found in this species 

 and that males are ver\/ rarely found with isolated queens, suggests that normally 

 a queen does not mate after she begins egg-laying and that she is destroyed and re- 

 placed by a more fecund one as soon as she has passed her prime. 



Prior to tlie final moult, which takes place about November, pigmentation in the 

 n\'mphs of the first form is confined to the eyes. The wing-buds are short and thick 

 outgrowths from the posterior margin of the meso- and metathorax, measuring 

 about 3 mm. in length. After the moult the wings appear as soft, white, crinkled 

 membranes, which rapidly assume their full length, but remain unpigmented, like 

 the rest of the body, for some da^'s. The duration of the period intervening between 

 the moult and acquisition of the full degree of pigmentation of the chitinous parts 

 and functioning wings is not known, but it appears to be about 10-14 days. Moulting 

 does not take place simultaneously in all the individuals which are destined to take 

 part in the colonising flight, many being still in the final nymphal stage while others 

 are capable of flight. Indeed, some individuals do not develop functioning wings 

 until after the flight. Whether the true king, which is so often found with the 

 neoteinic queens in the termitarium, is developed from one of these, or from one 

 of the earlier matured imagines, or whether he is the original male parent of the colony, 

 is not known. The latter, however, is most improbable, since he rarely, if ever, 

 possesses blunted claws and pigmented apices to the tarsi, which are the indications 

 of age in mature queens. Fiuther, many of the termitaria are evidently very much 

 older than the longest period suggested as the probable life of this caste. 



The life of the wdnged imago within the termitarium is short, and is certainl}' 

 regulated to a considerable degree by weather conditions, that is, swarming does not 

 occur before the first heavy rain of the season has fallen and the ground is thoroughly 

 moistened. 



