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especially between 10-11 a. m. They first fly for some 10 to 300 feet 

 from their nest. Later, they come down to the ground and press their 

 wings on the ground bending their bodies so that the wings are broken 

 off at their basal joint. The wingless termite goes about with great 

 activity. The male follows the female and finding a small crevice in 

 rotten wood or soil, large enough to conceal the two, the couple takes it 

 for their habitation. Their actions can well be watched by feeding a 

 couple of the termites in a glass tube, in which wood or soil is placed; 

 after feeding on wood and remaining quiet for two weeks, they copulate 

 and an egg is laid every day for 4 or 5 consecutive days. After this, the 

 laying of eggs is stopped till August when it is again begun. The eggs 

 thus laid hatch after 3 weeks ; the larvae so obtained are fed by imago at 

 first but they soon begin to get their food for themselves. They mostly 

 turn into workers, occasionally into soldiers, but never into generators. 

 During the winter months, the Queen does not lay eggs waiting till May 

 for laying. White ants kept in a glass tube for three years never gave 

 rise to nymphs, the larvae produced during the interval turning into workers 

 and soldiers. This failure of nymphs is most probably to be ascribed to 

 the shortage of the workers owing to the scarce supply of food in 

 the tube. Should they be left alone, nymphs would probably produced 

 from 3rd year. 



In case of the lack of generators from the death of the king and 

 queen or other reasons a so-called neoteinic kings and queens are produced 

 as substitutes, but they never give birth to a true king and queen. Such 

 substitute kings and queens generally appear very soon. In case of the 

 true royal form there is invariably a regular couple of two while neoteinic 

 queens vary from about 50 to 100 in number. Different combinations of 

 larvae, soldiers and workers were made to ascertain if a detached colony 

 taken from a family produces same differentiation. Where workers and 

 larvae are combined together they always follows a number of neoteinic 

 kings and queens. These substitute royal generators can be obtained from 

 larvae alone so long as workers exist to feed them. As larvae and workers 

 can live in isolation as they are found in many nests, we can easily imagine 

 that such a formation of new families is quite common in nature. 



In winter, the white ants make a deep hole in wood and pass time; 

 they do not remain entirely dormant and especially the workers show 



