CONSTITUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TERMITES. 309 
Tn conclusion, a lapse of eighteen to twenty mouths may be 
estimated to take place between the times of hatching and of 
reaching the perfect state. The workers and soldiers probably 
require a much shorter time, and both can apparently be 
developed by the autumn from eggs laid in May of the same 
year. 
The duration of life of single specimens cannot easily be 
estimated. The soldiers and workers certainly do not die off 
about the middle of June, as Lespés pretends. The king, 
whether complementary or substitute, does not live more than 
a couple of months after reaching sexual maturity, whereas 
the corresponding queens will live for several years. 
7. Situation of Different Forms in the Nest. 
The fertile or nearly fertile royal forms usually live in a very 
remote part of the nest, often collected together in a deep root 
or in the heart of a large trunk. 
The only two mature kings I have found accompanied the 
queens; the latter may be surrounded with numerous new-born 
larvee and clumps of 30 or 40 to 100 eggs. 
Eggs and larve can be carried long distances, as is shown 
by the occasional presence of numerous young larve and some- 
times of eggs as well in trees destitute of queens. 
The larvee, nymphs, winged forms (if present), soldiers, and 
workers all occur mingled together, both in the midst of the 
queens and elsewhere. Recently invaded situations contain, 
as a rule, chiefly workers and soldiers; and isolated workers, 
which one is tempted to look on as explorers or pioneers, may 
sometimes be found under stones, or in reeds, &c. Certain 
parts of the nest often contain principally workers and soldiers ; 
others larvee with wing-rudiments and nymphs. 
[I would add further that when a nest is opened certain parts 
will contain nothing but soldiers in the neighbourhood of the 
egg-clumps. It is a mistake to regard this as a normal state 
of things; the disturbance and noise of opening the nest have 
put all the other inhabitants to flight, while the valiant soldiers 
alone remain to protect the eggs. | 
VOL. 39, PART 3,—NEW SER. a8 
