1118 The American Naturalist. [December, 
CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE 
OF THE TERMITES. 
BY FRITZ MULLER.! 
N the opinion of profound students (Hagen in Linnza Ento- 
mologica, 14, page 126) respecting the surprising multitude 
of different conditions which exist in Termite colonies, only the 
nymphz with short wing-cases formed until now an insoluble 
mystery. As an introduction to the effort to bring this mystery 
nearer to a solution, I will-mention some facts about the family 
life of the Termites. At a certain season (for different species 
differ) the winged males and females leave the nest in which, 
several weeks before, their last moulting has taken place, and raise 
themselves up in thick swarms in the air. After a short flight 
they sink to the ground, and rid themselves of their wings. Dur- 
ing this begins the search of the male for a mate, and the suc- 
cessful pair try to get a nest for their eggs. Before they accom- 
plish this intention, the majority of the defenceless animals 
are overwhelmed by the persecutions of the common ants, 
the birds, and other enemies. Only after a pair as king and 
queen have found admission in a nest follows a true matrimonial 
state, during a year, as the result of a betrothal celebrated outside 
of the nest. The fructification takes place neither in the air nor 
at all outside of the nest. This representation agrees in nearly 
essential points with that which Smeathman has given nearly one 
hundred yearsago (1781), but the later zoological books seem to 
differ from it. Some writers seem to think that the Termites 
couple (copulate) in the air, or at least, outside of the nest, and 
that the males perish afterward, and the fructified females are 
brought back into the nest. 
That the male with his female return again to the nest, and 
live as king and queen, needs no further proof, for besides 
Smeathman, Lavage, Lespes, Bates, and others have found 
such kings with different species. Also, later, Dr. Hagen declares 
1 Translated from the German by Mrs. Lucy Bronsen Dudley: 
