CASTES OF TEEMOPSIS 509 



The winged adult of the first form 



After the last nymphal molt the individuals of this caste have a 

 colorless body, but rapidly assume the dark brown adult pigmen- 

 tation. The large black compound eyes, the dark body pigment, 

 and the long filmy wings are the distinguishing characters of this 

 phase. 



The wings of T. angusticolHs are dissimilar in size, the fore 

 wing being shghtly larger; there are also shght differences in 

 venation and in the humeral suture in the two wings. 



Comstock ('18, p. 143) states: ''In Termopsis there is a com- 

 plete humeral suture in the fore wing, as in Mastotermes, and in 

 the hind wing the anal area is crossed by a suture that appears to 

 be the beginning of a humeral suture." The WTiter finds that in 

 some specimens of T. angusticolHs the humeral suture is incom- 

 plete in the fore wing, extending toward the costal margin only as 

 far as vein R 3 of Comstock, and not reaching the anal margin. 

 In this respect Termopsis resembles Archotermopsis, as, according 

 to Inuns ('19, p. 99), in Archotermopsis the ''basal suture" "is 

 frequently incomplete in that it does not always extend to the 

 costal margin." The completeness or incompleteness of the 

 humeral suture in different indi\'iduals is evidently one more 

 example of the great variabihty alreadj' noted in the genus 

 Termopsis. 



As in other termites, the veins of the anterior or costal part of 

 the wing are fully chitinized, those of the posterior part are but 

 faintly chitinized. 



After the swarming or 'colonizing flight' (Snyder, Banks and 

 Snyder, '20) is over and mates are chosen, the wings are shed, 

 breaking usually behind the humeral suture in the fore wings, 

 and leaving the bases or 'scales' attached to the thorax. The 

 short aerial hfe is then ended forever and the life within the 

 galleries of wood is begun. 



Except for the increase in the size and maturity of the sex 

 organs, the internal anatomy of the winged adult is Yery similar 

 to that of the mature nymph. 



