484 Miscellaneous. 



the outer surfaces were solid. Shortly afterwards I paid a visit to 

 Mr. Corrie's farm, and made the following observations : — 



The balk of the potatoes had been hai'vested, but a few remained 

 undisturbed in the corner infested, and every one we turned over 

 was more or less riddled with ant-holes. The field in which the 

 croi) had been planted was new land, only cleared the previous 

 season, and still containing a number of the larger stumps, while 

 about 30 yards from the corner of the paddock there was a large 

 white ants' nest (termitarium), which, partly covering a large 

 stump, reached to about 5 feet in height, and when cut down was 

 found to be swarming with termites in all stages of development. 

 There is not the least doubt that it was foraging parties from this 

 nest that had invaded the paddock. 



This termite upon examination proved to be our commonest 

 Sydney species, which is responsible for nearly all the damage done to 

 houses in the city and suburbs. It belongs to the typical genus 

 Termes, and in a concluding paper in my " Monograph of the Austra- 

 lian Termitidte," being published in the ' Proceedings of the Linnean 

 Society of Xew South Wales,' I propose to call it the " Milk 

 Termite" {Tennes Jacds, sp. n.), on accou7it of the soldiers ejecting 

 a globule of milk-like tluid when disturbed. It was this species 

 that destroyed the roof of the Australian Museum last year, and 

 two years before eat out the floor of the records office in the 

 buildings of the Department of Education in Bridge Street. The 

 same termites are to be found destroying the woodwork of the hot- 

 houses in the Botanic Gardens ; and in nearly every instance where 

 the white auts have been sent in from buildings about Sydney they 

 have proved to belong to this species. 



In the immediate vicinity of Sydney these termites do not build 

 mound-nests, but are found under logs or stones, gnawing the bark 

 off dead trees, or in small communities about the trunks of trees ; 

 but upon the Blue Mountains and all over the Shoalhaven district 

 thej- build large regular mound-nests. 



These termitariums measure from 2 to sometimes 0| feet in 

 height, broadest at the base, and tapering slightly to a rounded 

 summit. The outer surface consists of a solid earthern wall, often 

 from a foot to 18 inches in thickness, formed of particles of earth 

 gathered upon the surrounding surface and cemented together with 

 the excreta of the workers voided while placing the earth in 

 position. This wall encloses a compact woody mass, slight!}- sepa- 

 rated from it on the sides, but almost touching at the apex. This 

 central portion varies in different parts of the nest in its structure, 

 but chiefly consists of titurated wood that has been eaten and passed 

 through the bodies of the termites, and has a regular foliated struc- 

 ture, these lumps forming a coarse irregular honeycomb. The cap 

 is composed of rounded irregular lumps, but towards the centre, 

 about 6 inches from the ground-level, there is a soft papery-like 

 mass about the size of a man's head, composed of fine sheets folding 

 round each other and full of holes and irregular galleries : this is 

 the nursery, where all the very small larvte live after they have 



