BT G. F. HILL. 147 



going their final moult; in these the quiescent stage is passed within the "nur- 

 sery." The larvae which are destined to develop into imagos, moult about the 

 middle of September, after which the wing rudiments are evident to the naked 

 eye. After passing through another moult, about the middle of November, there 

 is a considerable increase in the size of the body and wing-rudiments. The 

 latter gTew rapidly at first, but after attaining a length of 3.0-3.25 mm. there 

 is little further external development in this stadium. Just before the final 

 eedysis, which occurs between the end of the first and the last week of January, 

 the wing-rudiments, now 3.50 mm. long, lose their creamy colour and become 

 brownish yellow, and the abdomen becomes distended owing to the great increase 

 in the fat-body. The moult which follows is not simultaneous throughout the 

 colony. From the middle of January to about the middle of February there will 

 often be found large nymphs with unpigmented wing-nidiments and others in 

 all subsequent stages of development, up to apparently mature insects. I believe 

 that the latter await the further development of the former and that all sub- 

 sequently leave the colony together during the first two weeks of February. 

 "Swarming'" has not been observed but almost certainly takes place at night. 

 The number of imagos reared by a colony of this species is comparatively small. 

 Probably 50% of the termitaria examined between the months of September and 

 February will be found to contain no nymphs or alate imagos, whilst in the 

 remainder, the complement will range from three to twenty, or an average of 

 about 12 per colony. These fig-ures have been found to agree fairly closely for 

 three successive seasons, with the exception that in one termitarium examined 

 this year (13th January) about 100 nymphs and developing imagos were found. 



Neoteinic royalties, or the immature forms destined to develop into them, 

 have not been found in this species. I have frequently noted that termitaria 

 from which I had removed the queen were always repaired to a certain extent 

 and then abandoned, whilst those in which the queen was not discovered were 

 soon rebuilt and as prosperous as before. This indicated the inability of these 

 Eutermes to exist as a community after the dea,th of the original female parent. 

 In order to decide this question, the queens were removed from three larg^ ter- 

 mitaria on 17th July, 1920, while at the same time three other nests were simi- 

 larly broken into but not orphaned. About a month later all were found to be 

 sufficiently repaired to protect the inmates from the attacks of predaceous ani- 

 mals and from other dangers. When next visited on 13th January, 1922, the 

 three orphaned nests were found to be quite abandoned, while the others con- 

 tained prosperous communities. In the case of Drepanotermes silvestrii Hill 

 which is found in the same locality, I have been able to show that the loss of 

 the true queen is not such a serious matter, since the survivors thereafter sub- 

 stitute one or more neoteinies which are capable of producing sufflcient young to 

 maintain a colony of considerable, if not of average, numerical strength. 



Associated with E. vernoni are two other species of termites whose relation- 

 ship with the host species and with each other is not clear. As a rule when a 

 termitarium is occupied by more than one species, each occupies a definite part 

 of the structure and there is, apparently, no fraternising. In the present in- 

 stance, however, there are two species living (in the alate form) in the same 

 galleries, and, as far as is known, in perfect amity with their hosts. The smaller 

 of these, a species of Hamitermes, has been found twice in occupied nests of 

 E. nernoni, and on each occasion associated with the larger species, and once in 

 an abandoned nest — one of the orphaned nests examined on 13th January. The 

 latter were accompanied by their own soldiers and workers, — castes which I could 



