37 



The Large Eutermes (Eutermes ma gnus, Froggatt). 



This species is not uncommon in North Queensland, where it builds 

 a dome-shaped nest, from 2 to 3 feet in height and 3 to 4 feet in diameter, 

 upon dry, basaltic, scrubby ridges. The winged forms emerge in the 

 middle of November, and are remarkable for their size — nearly 1^ inches 

 in length to the tip of the closed wings, and nearly f of an inch to the 

 tip of the body — and has 16-jointed antennae. This is one of the darkest- 

 coloured forms of this genus. 



The soldier is under I of an inch in length, with the head dark brown, 

 and the centre of thorax and abdominal plates pale rusty red. The head 

 is furnished with long palpi, and fourteen joints in the antennae; the 

 snout nearly as long as the rounded portion of the head. 



The worker has the upper surface of the head brown, with cross sutures 

 of a lighter colour, and 15-jointed antennae. 



The Spiuifex Eutermes {Eutermes triodice, Froggatt). 



This is the common mound-building species in the Hall's Creek District, 

 Kimberley, Western Australia, that form their nests on the sides of the 

 slate ridges. They appear to always start by swarming over a clump 

 of spinifex grass, which grows to a height of about 2 feet, and construct 

 a rounded, dome-shaped termitarium, covered with earthy matter on 

 the outer surface, up to 6 or 8 feet in height, rounded at the base, and 

 of an almost uniform diameter to the regularly-rounded apex. 



The winged forms are dark brown, with fuscous wings, and measure 

 nearly ^ an inch in length, with the body about \ inch. The head is 

 large, clothc<l with tint; hairs, and the antenmv composed of fifteen short, 

 rounded segments. The soldier measures about \ of an inch in length, 

 and has the head dark brown, with the tip of the snout reddish; the 

 antennae with fourteen slender joints. The worker is slightly larger than 

 the soldier, with the same number of joints in the antennae. 



The Turret Eutermes {Eutermes tumuli, Froggatt). 



This is the only mound-building species in the Kalgoorlie district. 

 Western Australia, the nests varying from a few inches in height to 

 upwards of a foot, and about the same in diameter at the base, and are 

 always found under the shelter of low, scrubby bushes. During the dry 

 season the nests are uninhabited, and the outer walls become so thin that 

 they crumble away, until the ends of the galleries opening outwards are 

 exposed with the first rain storms. 



My father, who made these observations, found them suddenly appear 

 in the previously abandoned nests in March, after the rains, and set to 

 work to mend and patch up the outer walls. In the following October 

 numbers of winged forms were obtained. In these nests he also found 

 large stores of grey pellets, which on examination proved to be masticated 

 grass, rolled up into little balls, a form of food that has not been met 

 with, as far as I know, in any other white ant termitaria. 



These nests were recorded during the Horn Expedition from several 

 places under slielter of clumps of spinifex in Central Aiistralia. 



