450 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



legs belong to species sluggish in their movements and which 

 venture but little from home." 



The swarming of the winged white ants has often been noted 

 by travellers and others. Dr. Haviland says: "The winged 

 imagos have an unconquerable desire to leave the nest and to 

 run the risk of dangers from which not one in many escapes. 

 They fly but feebly, allowing themselves to be carried by the 

 wind, and could scarcely cross more than a mile or two of 

 water. The wings are soon shed across a transverse basal line. 

 The method of breaking off the wings is to elevate them by 

 using the legs and abdomen for that purpose, or in certain cases 

 the insect pushes them against some objects ; yet in some cases 

 the live insect will shed all four wings with inexplicable rapidity." 

 At the time of swarming, the males and females of the genus 

 Termcs pair, the male following the female and often clinging 

 to her abdomen, but there are no copulatory organs. From 

 Professor Grassi's observations it is probable that in Calotermes 

 copulation nevertheless takes place ; but in Termes malayanus, 

 Dr. Haviland has reason to think that the king fertilises the 

 eggs after they are laid, and he adds, " Indeed, copulation in 

 the case of kings and full-grown queens of most species of the 

 genus Termcs is apparently impossible." Apart from the 

 worker, soldier, male and female, or rather king and queen, 

 there is also in Termites another caste called, by Dr. Sharpe 

 I believe, " neoteinic." By neoteinic individuals Dr. Haviland 

 means fertile individuals, the condition of whose thorax makes 

 it clear that they have never been capable of flight. Though 

 the true queens are always accompanied by kings, the neoteinic 

 queens are often consortless. Neoteinic forms are very abun- 

 dantly found in some species. Neoteinic queens are generally 

 raised in considerable number, and become fewer in number as 

 they grow older. They are always found in the same part of 

 the nest, although, unless few in number, they cannot all 

 occupy the same cell. 



The functions of the soldiers Dr. Haviland believes to be 

 defence only. " Those soldiers which have a saddle-shaped 

 pronotum and rudimentary mandibles secrete a clear viscid fluid 

 from a sac, which occupies a great part of the head and opens 

 by a duct which passes down the rostrum. The soldiers may 

 be seen to dab a little of the fluid on the antennas of their 

 enemies by a quick movement, which is clearly a modification 

 of the shaking movement so often seen in worker Termites." 



