276 B. GRASSI AND A. SANDIAS. 
fact, but it is not uncommon for two or more nests of Calo- 
termes to co-exist without (at least for us) well-defined limits 
in the same stem, which therefore appears to contain more 
than a single royal pair. In connection with this condition are 
certain facts which prove the existence of the terrible jealousy 
which is so remarkably shown, e. g., between separate families 
of the hive-bee. But for the sake of convenience I shall defer 
them to a succeeding section on Habits. 
When a colony is deprived either of king or queen, or of 
both, it furnishes a certain number of substitute royal forms, 
of which only one, if a single true form is missing, or two, 
that is, a pair, if both are absent, is called to the throne. 
In every nest, forms of different ages are always to be 
found; and as a general rule small individuals are more, or 
not less, numerous than large. 
Soldiers are relatively scarce, not more than from two 
to four being found in nests of from eight to fifteen inhabit- 
ants. In large colonies they exist in the proportion of one to 
‘very fifteen or twenty examples. 
5. Seasonal Variations in the Colony. 
It must be recollected, as a general rule, that the develop- 
ment of Calotermes is arrested during the winter months, 
that is, from the middle of November to the middle of April; 
and this condition explains the absence of individuals in pro- 
cess of moulting during that period. 
In these months the nest contains eggs, sometimes a hun- 
dred or more, which are always in the gastrulation stage. 
Their development remains stationary during the greater part 
of May, to reeommence towards the end of the month, so that 
newly hatched young are to be found from about the 10th of 
June till the end of July,a few eggs, from five to ten, hatching 
every day. In July it is evident that the number of young 
larvee increases, so does that of the eggs diminish until 
their final disappearance. Towards the end of July it is 
difficult to find a nest which still contains eggs, proving 
that oviposition is suspended at this time. The same holds 
