100 Psyche [October 



The various forms in the colony are in general somewhat smaller 

 than the corresponding forms in a colony of R. flavipes, and the 

 winged adults are readily distinguished from those of R. flavipes 

 by the deeper pigmentation of the wings and the proximity of the 

 ocelli to the compound eyes. Among the forms that I have ob- 

 tained is a physogastric "true queen." The abdomen of this 

 queen measures approximately three t'mes the length of that of 

 the winged adults at swarming time. "True queens" in this 

 species have apparently been difficult to find in Europe, so much 

 so that Grassi concluded they never occur in nature at the head 

 of colonies, their place always being taken by "complementary" 

 or "substitute" royal forms. In mor^ recent years however a 

 few have been recorded. 



The habits of R. lucifugus have been described in some detail by 

 several authors, notably Lespes,^ Grassi and Sandias^ and Feyt- 

 aud.^ I will add here only the following brief notes on the dates 

 of molting and flying of the winged sexual forms. On warm hill- 

 sides at Forest Hills and Stony Brook Reservation, nymphs of R. 

 flavipes were found molting into winged adults in large numbers 

 from May 5 to May 10, and were seen emerging from the colonies 

 and flying on May 15, 17, and 19. The corresponding nymphs of 

 R. lucifugus were molting in numbers to the adult state nearly a 

 month later, May 30 to June 5, and were found flying as late as 

 June 30. The flying of the latter was probably somewhat delayed 

 by the prolonged cold weather in June. In 1917 R. flavipes 

 swarmed in the early part of June in the colonies I was observing 

 at Forest Hills. This corresponds with the backwardness of the 

 season in that year. A typical swarm was witnessed on June 8. 



The development to the adult state is apparently accomplished 

 in R. flavipes as early in the spring as the weather will permit. 

 The nymphs reach the last nymphal instar in the late summer or 

 fall of the previous year and are to be found in abundance as early 

 as the termites appear in the spring, the flrst of April at Forest 

 Hills this year. At this time they keep to the outlying parts of 



1 Recherches sur rorganisation et les moeurs du Termite lucifuge. (1856) Ann. Sci. Nat. 

 Zool., 4 aSrie, t. 5. 



'The constitution and development of the society of termites; observations of their habits; 

 with appendices on the parasitic protozoa of Termitidse and on the Embiidae, (1893-4) translated 

 by W. F. H. Blandford, Quat. Jour. Micros. Sci., vols. 39 and 40, new series. (1896-7). 



'Contribution k I'fitude du termite lucifuge. (1912) Archives d'anat. microsc, t. 13. 



