Mr. T. S. Savage on the Termitidee of West Africa. 95 
diately above, and interior to the nurseries, lie the ‘‘ magazines ” 
of Smeathman, rising to the height of about a foot. These are 
a cellular arrangement of soft clay, filled with a dark brown gra- 
nulated substance, supposed by Mr. Smeathman to be the “ food.” 
It is very moist, and appears to be vegetable substance, commi- 
nuted and reduced to this state by the insect. 
Between the royal apartments and nurseries is the first-floor 
of Smeathman ; immediately above the magazines is the second ; 
then comes the “ dome,” a large cavity in the upper part of the 
structure. With the dome there is a communication by nume- 
rous passages with the different parts of the hill, and thus a free 
circulation of warm air kept up, giving a uniform temperature to 
the domicile. The principles of philosophy known in the tendency 
of air to an equilibrium, its ascent when rarefied, condensation 
and descent in coming in contact with a colder ‘mediom, thus 
securing a uniformity of temperature, are all involved in this 
peculiarity of structure. 
The statement of Dr. Smeathman respecting the primary size 
and subsequent mode of increase of the royal apartments is a 
matter of deduction, though undoubtedly correct. In small hills 
the queen is found of corresponding size. As the hills increase, 
the size of the queen and her apartments are known to increase. 
The adjacent portions must be taken down to meet this enlarge- 
ment. ‘This is true also of other portions of the structure. As 
the outer projections, or turrets, are sent up from within, and the 
intervening spaces filled out, a portion of what was previously 
the exterior must be removed, to admit of the expansion of the 
interior arrangements, the nurseries, magazines, &c. This changer 
and removal must be more or less true, also, of almost all par es 
of the domicile. 
The community was divided by Smeathman into three orders : 
Ist, the workers ; 2nd, soldiers; 3rd, the perfect insects, male 
and female, or king and queen ; a fourth order or state was sub- 
sequently noticed by Latreille among another species in the south 
of France, at Bordeaux (Termes lucifugus). It was afterwards 
observed in the East Indies, and incidentally noticed by an ano- 
nymous writer in manuscript on a Ceylonese species (Kirby and 
Spence’s Introduct. vol. i. p. 33). This was the nympha or 
pupa state of the workers, in which rudimental wings were ob- 
served. The same state was inferred and averred of T. fatalis, 
by Messrs. Kirby and Spence, and adopted by compilers. I have 
never known this inference to be confirmed by any observer wri- 
ting on the African species; but I am happy-in being able to 
assert the fact from personal observation, and, furthermore, to 
declare the same of the soldiers. I have seen both with rudi- 
mental wings distinct. Messrs. Kirby and Spence suppose the 
