EEVISION OF THE JAPANESE TERMITES. 155 



Locality.- — Formosa ; Ishigakijima, Loo-choo. 



Nom. Jap. — Nitobe-shiroari (Taihoku-shiroari). 



Note. — Shieaki (1) first described this termite giving the name 

 of Eutermes nitobei after Desneux's system. At first, Oshima (2) 

 adopted this name, but afterwards he (3, 5, 6) recorded it as 

 Eutermes longicomis identifying with Capritermes longicornis Wasmann, 

 its generic name being changed into Eutermes after Desneux's 

 system. Later on Shieaki' s specific name was used by Nitobe (1) 

 and Eutermes longicomis by Nawa (3, 8). Recently, Oshima (8, 9, 10) 

 changed his opinion and again accepted Shieaki' s specific name, 

 but, in the adoption of the genus, he abandons Eutermes and 

 goes back to Capritermes which he rejected at the beginning. In 

 his former paper (4), Holmgeen gave to this species the name of 

 Capritermes watasei, and in his later ones (5, 6) he has fully 

 described it as Capritermes sulcatus. 



This termite is rather rare, usually forming a small colony 

 consisting of workers, nymphs and very few soldiers, in or under 

 old stumps, logs, etc. The winged forms seem to swarm in June. 

 Toward the end of May in Formosa we have often met with 

 them in nests. 



DISTRIBUTION OF JAPANESE TERMITES. 



Here is appended a table showing the distribution of Japanese 

 termites based mainly upon my own study, supplemented by 

 those of Kolbe, Holmgeen, Matsumuea, Yano, et al. It seems to 

 me highly probable that further study will bring out new forms 

 and make our knowledge on distribution of termites in Japan 

 much more comprehensive than has been attained hitherto. 



