6 Queensland Termites. [Sess, 
insect to succumb. The fluid does its work by rapidly co- 
agulating and thus clogging the enemy’s motions. Whether 
it be otherwise injurious I cannot say. It may probably be 
only the cement which is so largely used in building all 
termite structures, and with which the workers are also 
furnished. 
Structure of Termitary—lf we penetrate still farther into 
the termitary, and as we approach the ground-line, the tunnels 
become more numerous and the material more like paper. 
In fact, it has become papier-maché of the lightest and 
thinnest texture, instead of the sandy cement or “ concrete” 
which lines the outside. The outer tunnels are often thinly 
populated, and are much filled up with chopped grass. 
There are no other stores, such as dead wood or seeds, to be 
seen. The uses to which the grass is put are difficult to con- 
jecture in view of the fact that rotting timber forms the 
usual food of termites. 
The Queen.—It is in the central and more delicate tunnels 
that the queen is usually found. Her presence may be 
suspected by the more intense life; by the crowds of 
sexually immature individuals; by the myriads of young of 
all ages which fill the galleries; and even more certainly by 
masses of eggs, adherent together like a moist white sugar of 
fine grain (Plate IL, a and a’). I must again ask it to be 
remembered that I am speaking of the termitaries which I 
have seen: others, say African ones, may be quite different. 
Royal Chamber—I1 dismiss the idea of a royal chamber 
dedicated to the queen: it does not exist in nests I have ex- 
amined. I have found the queen in any part of the interior, 
and she possesses a power of locomotion quite belied by her 
appearance. 
Provisional Queens.—The queen, though ever well guarded, 
is; like other royalties, liable to accident. In the case of death, 
a plurality of princesses perform her functions provisionally, 
and are egg-bearers. I have found eight in one nest. The 
princesses—so to call them—are not queens, and they differ 
in this wise: (1) They have not lost the normal form of the 
insect ; (2) their abdomen can carry only, say, a tenth part of 
the usual number of eggs; (3) they have the rudimentary 
wings common to an early stage of winged insects, instead 
