76 Indian Museum Notes-. [Vol. V. 



and nests, collect food, and do all the work of the com- 

 munity. 



(3) Wingless larvae which develop into winged males and 



females. 



(4) Winged males and females. The males and females fly 



out of the nest in clouds generally after rain. Those of 

 them that escape their numerous enemies are said to drop 

 their wings and copulate. The female finds her way 

 back to the original nest or starts a fresh nest for herself. 

 Her abdomen grows by distention of the membranes 

 between the chitinous plates until she becomes like a 

 sausage, two or three inches in length with a minute head 

 and thorax at one end. Queens in several stages of 

 development may sometimes be found in a single nest. 



Termes taprobanes never willingly exposes itself to daylight 

 except in the male and female forms. The insects work in earthen 

 galleries, which they build over themselves as they advance. 



Distribution. — This insect is to be found in most parts of India. 



Reports of attacks on cane by T. taprobanes. — In 1888 the Com- 

 missioner of Chota Nagpur wrote that sugarcane in the Giridih Sub- 

 Division was reported by the officer in charge to be especially 

 liable to attacks by white ants. The manager of the Chota Nagpur 

 Raj states that its mode of attack is to eat up the root of live 

 crops and thus cause the death of the plants. The ryots, he 

 stated, were not acquainted with any remedy for it. The Personal 

 Assistant to the Director of Land Records and Agriculture in the 

 North-Western Provinces reported in 1888 that until the sugarcane 

 borer [Chilo simplex) appeared near Cawnpore white ants had been 

 found to be the most serious pest with which the sugarcane had to 

 contend, although, he continues, they could always be more or less 

 efficiently checked by heavy watering. 



Remedies. — Many and varied have been the methods made use of 

 in the attempt to exterminate this pest. A popular theory that was 

 long believed in and adhered to was that a nest may be got rid of by 

 digging up and killing the queen. This is now known to be a fallacy. 

 It has been recognised that termites are perfectly well aware of the 

 presence or absence of the king and queen, and should they be removed 

 the workers start about providing fresh ones, i.e. , substitute royal 

 forms, by introducing deviations in the normal development of the 

 larvae. Thus it becomes impossible to completely eradicate white 

 ants. But whilst this latter is true as far as total extermination is 



