298 B. GRASSI AND A. SANDIAS. 
usually possess some trace of the wings, whereas these are 
entirely absent in most of the substitute forms of Calo- 
termes. 
The orphaned nest of Termes has a still closer resemblance 
to that of Calotermes, for the royal forms, as I have said, 
are frequently destitute of wing-rudiments. 
In short, in the nest of Termes, as in the orphaned nest of 
Calotermes, individuals of which the wings have never been 
fully developed are invariably raised to the throne. 
There is a further important distinction: in the Calo- 
termes nest the king is always to be found beside the queen, 
whereas in numbers of Termes nests examined I have only 
twice found a single king associated with troops of queens. 
These kings were observed in the hot season,—that is, at the 
time when substitute queens are most difficult to find, because 
then the insects habitually bury themselves deep in the ground. 
I cannot doubt that I might have found many others if I had 
been able to continue my investigations in August and 
September. 
The complementary or substitute king is certainly present 
in the nest about the time when the queens of either kind 
reach maturity, and he disappears after pairing. The colony 
must therefore rear fresh kings every year, which become 
mature in August and September, fertilise the queens, and die. 
By way of confirming this inference, I may say, in addition to 
the facts just related, that recently orphaned nests contain as 
many examples in process of becoming substitute kings as 
those about to become substitute queens. Complementary 
kings in process of development can be found from the middle 
of March onwards, but are always very rare in non-orphaned 
nests, while developing complementary queens are entirely 
wanting. 
Finally, I may add that all possibility of parthenogenesis is 
excluded, as will be seen farther on, by the constant presence 
of abundant spermatozoa in the spermathece of the substitute 
queens. 
