CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERMITES. 3 



5. Five orphaned nests were re-examined after not less than 

 two years' interval. They possessed substitute pairs of the 

 usual type, except that the yellow colour was deeper, and the 

 abdomen, especially of the queens, more distended. Several 

 of these royal forms had no sign of wings. 



Others were opened after three or four years, and contained 

 substitute forms precisely similar, save for a more marked 

 enlargement of the abdomen, just as in true kings and queens 

 of the same age. 



The progeny in all the above-mentioned nests consisted as 

 usual of soldiers, nymphs, &c. 



Corollaries. — There is no subsequent growth of the wings 

 in the royal substitutes. 



Their progeny is identical with that of the perfect royal forms. 



6. Two nests orphaned a couple of years previously contained 

 no royal pair, but merely some five or six examples in process 

 of becoming substitutes. Neither eggs nor new-born larvse 

 were present, but the rest of the brood was normal. This 

 was observed in April. 



These nests had clearly been orphaned a second time after 

 having once possessed a substitute royal pair. 



7. The substitute pairs w^e removed from several nests 

 which were furnished with them ; the colonies provided others. 



8. It is not uncommon in nature to find substitute pairs in 

 trees which have been felled or broken by a gale or other 

 accident. In such cases the true royal pair was evidently left 

 behind in the severed portion, and the nests were consequently 

 left orphaned. 



Corollary. — Loss of the royal couple is a frequent natural 

 phenomenon. 



B. Experiments and Observations on Termes under 



Natural Conditions. 



1. I have never found a single nest containing a true royal 

 pair, though on one occasion such a pair was discovered 

 under natural conditions, but without oflFspring. By keeping 

 twenty or thirty winged examples of both sexes in a glass jar 



