CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPAIENT OF TERMITES. 21 



yellowish and semi-fluid, and the exact method of nutrition 

 is then more difficult to ascertain. 



Though ecdysis is a very frequent phenomenon in Calo- 

 termes, it is difficult to find exuviae in the nest. This, 

 coupled with the fact that the alimentary canal sometimes 

 contains portions of cast skins, suggested to me that they are 

 habitually devoured. Attentive observation shows that this is 

 really though not invariably the case. Sometimes the assist- 

 ants at a moult eat the exuviae bit by bit as they are shed ; 

 and at other times an example seizes the skin directly it is 

 cast, and carries it away for a greater or less distance to eat 

 part or the whole. The proctodseal cuticle may or may not 

 be shed with the rest of the exuvise. If it is not, it may be 

 passed either spontaneously, or as a result of the palpation 

 and pressure employed to produce defaecation by another 

 insect, which then draws out and devours, instead of the 

 dejecta, a white substance, which is the cuticular lining in 

 question.* 



Besides the practice of eating the cast skins, I have men- 

 tioned that at times a Calotermite may apparently finish the 

 operation of licking another by a bite. The carnivorous pro- 

 pensities of these insects do not stop there. Any example not 

 in normal condition (e. g. which is shrivelled, or which shows 

 signs of being ill by remaining long motionless for some un- 

 decipherable reason^ or which is unable completely to moult 

 the skin) is eaten before death by its companions. It is not 

 uncommon to see a soldier decapitate a living nymph, or to 

 find an example with the abdomen eaten and the legs still in 

 motion. At times a victim attempts to retreat, but is then 

 usually decapitated at a stroke by a soldier. But this mode 

 of execution is not always resorted to, and the antennae may 

 be bitten off' first, &c. 



*I may add in passing that so great is the ferocity of the 

 soldiers that one may be occasionally seen furiously to assault 

 five or six other individuals and bite off heads and abdomens, 

 &c. The object of these massacres, which take place only 

 when the nest is thrown into disorder, is not quite clear. 



