XVI 



TERMITIDAE 



363 



in a comparatively simple manner. There is no special caste of 

 workers, conseqnently such work as is done is carried on by the 

 other members of the community, viz. soldiers, and the young 

 and adolescent. The habits of this species have recently been 

 studied in detail in Sicily by Grassi and Sandias.^ The Insects 

 dwell in the branches and stems of decaying or even dead trees, 

 where they nourish themselves on those parts of the wood in 

 which the process of decay is not far advanced ; they live in the 

 interior of the stems, so that frequently no sign of them can be 

 seen outside, even though they may 

 be heard at work by applying the 

 ear to a branch. They form no 

 special habitation, the interior of 

 the branch being sufficient protec- 

 tion, but they excavate or increase 

 the natural cavities to suit their 

 purposes. It is said that they 

 line the galleries with proctodaeal 

 cement ; this is doubtful, but they 

 form barricades and partitions 

 where necessary, by cementing 

 together the proctodaeal products 

 with matter from the salivary 

 glands or regurgitated from the 

 anterior parts of the alimentary 

 canal. The numbers of a com- 

 munity only increase slowly and remain always small ; rarely do 

 they reach 1000, and usually remain very much below this. The 

 king and queen move about, and their family increases but slowly. 

 After fifteen months of their union they may be surrounded by 

 fifteen or twenty young ; in another twelve months the number 

 may have increased to fifty, and by the time it has reached some 

 five hundred or upwards the increase ceases. This is due to the 

 fact that the fertility of the queen is at first progressive, but 

 ceases to be so. A queen three or four years old produces at 

 the time of maximum production four to six eggs a day. When 

 the community is small during its first two years the winged 

 individuals that depart from it are about eight or ten annually, 

 but the numbers of the swarm augment with the increase of the 



1 Atti Ace. Gioen, vi. and vii. 1893 and 1894. 



Fig. 230. Some individuals of Calo- 

 term.es flavicollis : A, nymph with 

 partially grown wing - pads ; B, 

 adult soldier ; C, adult winged in- 

 dividual. (After Grassi.) 



