946 PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 



After dark, most motlis and night-flying insects generally are on 

 the wing and may be taken at light or at sugar. 



A few insects fly late at night, but it will be noticed that very few 

 seem to be on the wing after about 10 p.m. 



Some insects fly at special anl irregular times. Amongst such are 

 termites, whose flight usually takes place on a still evening after the 

 first heavy rains, but may take place (in the same species) at other 

 times of the day. Thus at Pusa the flight of Odonlotermes assmuthi 

 usually occurs in the late afternoon, but may take j^lace in the early 

 morning or at almost any time during the day, that of Microtermes 

 obesi always occiu's between 7 and 8 p.m., that of Eremotermes jxtra- 

 doxalis in the late afternoon, and that of Coptoiermes heimi at dusk, 

 whilst, on the only occasion at Coimbatore that I have noticed the 

 flight of Hodotermes vianim, it occurred late at night after 10 p.m. When 

 such flights occur, it 'is important to trace the jjlace whence the emer- 

 gence is taking place, in order to secure specimens of the soldiers and 

 workers which belong to the winged adults. This is often difficult to 

 do, especially in cases where the adults issue singly from small holes 

 or slits in the ground, but, by bending down as near ground-level as 

 possible and watching carefully, it is often possible to find the holes 

 of emergence and, by digging up the ground beneath these, the soldiers 

 and workers may be found and definitely associated with the winged 

 forms. The winged adults of Eremotermes, for example, emerge from 

 minute slits in the ground, which are very difficult to discover, and 

 the soldiers and workers, which are rarely seen otherwise, may be tm'ued 

 up fi'om the soil beneath the hole of exit. Odontotermes, on the contrary, 

 usually streams up from a mound or hole or holes of exit, whose entrance 

 is thickly surrounded with soldiers and workers running around on 

 the surface of the soil. 



" Carpe d-iem." In the case of the occurrence of termites' swarms, 

 as in all other cases of collecting insects, the entomologist's motto should 

 be " Carpe diem." When an insect, of which specimens are required, 

 is found commonly, the opportunity should be taken to take a sufficient 

 series at the time ; otherwise, if this is not done, the chances are that 

 the species will not be found again later on when required, or an oppor- 

 tunity of taking examples (such as revisiting a particular locality) may 

 not reciu". It is better to take a good' long series of any uncommon 

 insect when met with rather than to take only a few; it should be 

 remembered that duplicates or excess specimens will often be desiderata 

 to other brethren of the net and he who has such specimens to spare 

 to others is most likely to be remembered when they have specimens 

 to dispose of. 



