74 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FORESTS. 
True royal pairs are independent of workers in the foundation of 
new colonies; that is, it is not necessary that they be found and 
established in royal cells by foraging workers and soldiers, although 
it is possible that this occurs, which would then constitute an inde- 
pendent colony. New colonies established by sexed adults that 
swarmed were found both in the termitarium (where conditions were 
similar to those in nature) and in the forest. The king and queen 
are equally important; they continue to cohabit and coition 1s 
repeated. The first brood reared by young true queens that have 
swarmed consists of workers and soldiers of smaller size than the 
normal form. 
Neoteinic royal individuals are to be found commonly in colonies 
of flavipes in the eastern United States; they are “ergatoids” or 
“neotenes’’ and are developed by retarding the normal development 
of nymphs of the first form at an early stage, and from young larve; 
sometimes as many as 40 or more, consisting of many queens and a 
few males, may be present in the same colony. The males are 
polygamous. It is believed that these forms are provided (1) when 
overcrowded old colonies are split up and new, independent colonies 
are to be established, or (2) through the actual loss of the true royalty 
or by the accidental separation of some members of the colony from 
the royalty. This method of the formation of new colonies is sure, 
and probably much more rapid in the case of establishment by the 
true colonizing forms, as the royalty would receive the care of the 
workers, would not have to forage for themselves, and their only 
function would be reproduction. The number of eggs laid and the 
rate of increase would necessarily be much more rapid, due to the 
following facts: (1) The abdomens of mature, fertilized, supple- 
mentary queens are nearly as fully distended as in the case of true 
queens; (2) the large number of supplementary royalty possible to 
be present in a single colony and consequent increase in the number 
of eggs laid, and (3) the proper care and nourishment the royalty 
would receive. 
It is often noted that the antenne of the reproductive forms are 
mutilated, that is, have a greater or less number of segments missing. 
However, this is not always the case in young reproductive forms. 
The loss of the segments in individuals in long-established colonies 
might be due to the treatment the latter receive from the workers, or 
from being dragged about by them, but the antennz are sometimes 
mutilated in individuals in incipient colonies. 
There is a series of molts and ‘‘quiescent stages’’ in the develop- 
ment of the larve of the castes; caste differentiation occurs during 
such a stage, which corresponds somewhat to the pupal stage in 
insects with complete metamorphoses. 
In conclusion, the more important facts may be summarized as 
follows: There is great variation in the life cycle of Leucotermes; 
