34 



the nests of this species are not found about the neighbourhood of Sydney, 

 where they simply form colonies in old stumps, under logs and houses. 

 that they build such characteristic domed nests in other districts. The 

 large termite nest met with along the South Coast, the scrubby country 

 of Colo Vale, Moss Vale, and up into Southern Queensland, is the home of 

 this species. It measures up to 6 feet in height, broadest at the base, 

 tapering very little on the sides, and broadly rounded on the summit. 

 The outer clay covering is very thick and compact, without any opening 

 on the surface except when the workers cut galleries through the walls in 

 November to let out the winged males and females, and as soon as they 

 have emerged the holes are filled up with fresh clay. Enfolded in this 

 clay covering is an irregular mass of granulated, honeycombed, woody 

 matter, which has at one time been wood, but has been chewed up and 

 voided by the insects and produced into a regular papier-mache- 

 like substance ; it is seldom in contact with the clay except at 

 the base, and fits to the outward form of the termitarium : The base 

 of the nest, which consists of a regular network of galleries, generally 

 extends about a foot below the surrounding surface of the ground, 

 from beneath which several large galleries lead away into the soil and are 

 the main roads out of the nest to the surrounding forest. Above the 

 network portion of the base of the nest, which is easily detached from the 

 ground, the structure of the galleries becomes more solid, and the royal 

 chamber nearly in the centre of the mass is surrounded with terrace-like 

 solid sheets of a lighter colour, the central chamber being a convex cavity 

 on a level floor about the size of an ordinary saucer ; just below on the side 

 will be found more open galleries containing piles of eggs, like semi- 

 transparent grains of sugar, which are removed by the workers from the 

 royal chamber. There are several openings leading off from the floor by 

 which the attendant workers can come in ai)d out, but they are not large 

 enough for the queen, if she is able to move freely (which she is not 

 usually able to do) to get out of her cell. It is noticeable that the egg 

 chambers and queen cell are always situated well above the ground level, 

 so that even if the ground was flooded they are out of danger. Above 

 the queen is a mass of very fine laminated material as thin as brown 

 paper, folding up into fine galleries, curving round into an irregularly 

 rounded ball as big as a man's head, in which the tiny larvae swarm, and 

 which has been termed the " nursery." The rest of the termitaria consists 

 of more or less solid masses of material, full of chambers and galleries, 

 through which the workers and soldiers are mixed up in no regular order. 

 Sometimes the clay walls contain short galleries in which workers and 

 soldiers are found, but this is not usually the case. In November, on 

 the Shoalhaven, where I opened a number of nests, several were found 

 with keyhole-like slits in the walls, with a cluster of soldiers at the outer 

 opening, with their jaws facing out, standing guard, while behind them 

 the galleries were packed with the winged ones ready to emerge at the 

 appointed time when the soldiers would give free exit, which turned out 

 to be just before sunset. 



