20 



Broun's Calotermes {Calotennes broufii, Froggatt). 



This is a very distinct species sent to me by Captain Broun of New 

 Zealand, under the idea that it was Termes australis. He says that 

 ''^This species originally inhabited the Puriri (Vitex littoralis) in the 

 northern forests, where the nests consisted of small families. It has been 

 found in buildings as far south as Tauranga, and is widely distributed 

 throughout the Auckland district, even where the Puriri does not grow. 

 This he considers is to be accounted for by the practice of using blocks of 

 this wood for foundations of houses when containing colonies of these 

 calotermes, which afterwards eat their way upwards into the Kauri 

 flooring, and sometimes make their way up the wall studs to the roof, 

 when in the softer Kauri timber, they are more destructive. It is a 

 small dark-winged white ant, under ^ an inch in length, with the body 

 about |- of an inch in length. The soldier with a dull dark yellow head, 

 twice the length of its breadth, with broad stout jaws, slender at the tips, 

 with the right hand one furnished with three stout teeth, and the left 

 hand one with only one in the centre. 



The Fine-winged Calotermes {Calotermes rohustus, Froggatt). 



This was described from a single, very perfect specimen taken at Sans 

 Souci, near Sydney, flying round the lighted lamp in a house. It 

 resembles G . insularis in size and colour, but differs in having the head 

 convex and not flattened in front, a smaller prothorax and the fine 

 reticulation of the wings, which are very different to any other species 

 examined by me. It is a dark dull yellow-coloured insect with semi- 

 opaque wings, and measures f of an inch to the tip of the wings, and 

 nearly | an inch to the tip of the abdomen, and 19-jointed antenna?. 



The Common Calotermes (Calotermes longiceiis, Froggatt). 



This is our common species, often met with in small communities of 

 from twenty to one hundred, generally composed of immature winged 

 forms, workers, and only two or three soldiers. I have never been able 

 to obtain the perfect winged forms, though they lived in captivity for 

 months. They form irregular cavities and narrow galleries in the hard 

 eucalyptus logs. 



The immature winged forms measure J an inch in length, and, like 

 the worker, are stout and cylindrical in form. The soldier measures 

 slightly over }r an inch in length, with the head and jaws combined as 

 long as thorax and abdomen. The head is very large, longer than broad., 

 bright reddish brown ; black jaws, having three small, irregular teetli 

 on the left-hand side, and one large angular one on the opposite side; the 

 antenna? very slender, composed of twenty joints. 



