112 THE NATURALIST IN AUSTRALIA. 
species, it travels in processional order above ground and in broad daylight. Con- 
cerning the nest or termitaria-constructing species, the form he distinguished by 
the title of Termes bellicosus is undoubtedly: the most remarkable. This Termite 
constructs clay hillocks ten or twelve feet high of an obtusely conical contour, supple- 
mented by a variable number of smaller conical pinnacles or turrets which spring 
from around the base, and from the general surface-area of the central cone. 
According to Mr. Smeathman, these termitaries make their first appearance above 
ground in the form of one or two, or more, sugar-loaf-shaped turrets of a foot or 
so in height, which through constant increase in size and numbers, become finally 
amalgamated. 
In vertical section the nest mound of Termes bellicosus is depicted as consisting 
of an outer shell averaging a foot in thickness, and traversed throughout its height 
by a wide spirally ascending tunnel. The Royal Chamber containing the abnormally 
inflated queen, which in this species, see p. 103, fig. 8, measures as much as three or 
four inches long, by one inch thick, and also the king, is situated in the immediate 
centre of the hillock, at the same level as the surface of the ground. Around this 
royal cell are clustered the innumerable waiting chambers, or so-called Royal Apart- 
ments occupied by the labourers and soldiers which wait upon and guard the 
king and queen. These form an intricate labyrinth which extends for a foot or 
more in diameter from the Royal Chamber on every side. Here the nurseries and 
magazines of provisions begin, which, intercommunicating by other empty chambers and 
galleries, are continued on all sides to the outer shell. ; 
It is remarked by Smeathman that the dimensions and composition of the 
nurseries of this species, Zermes bellicosus, differ materially from those of the other 
chambers, being not only much smaller, but composed of woody material in place of 
clay. In addition to their eggs or infant brood, they were always found to be slightly 
overgrown with minute fungoid growths, upon which, according to collateral observations 
made by M. Konig of an East Indian species, it would appear the infant Termites are 
fed. The contents of the magazine chambers proper were found to consist of what, at 
first sight, appeared to be raspings of the wood and plants which the Termites 
customarily destroy, but on nearer investigation, proved to be composed of various 
descriptions of gums or inspissated juices. 
The complex mass of nurseries and provision magazines in the nest-mound of 
Termes bellicosus is described as extending vertically for some two-thirds or three- 
quarters of the entire interior space, leaving a more or less considerable hollow area 
