Mr. T. S. Savage on the Termitidse of West Africa. 95 



(liately 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 medium, 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 change 

 and removal must be more or less true, also, of almost all parts 

 of the domicile. 



The community was divided by Smeathman into three orders : 

 1st, 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 

 Spencers Introduct. vol. ii. 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 



