430 
AUSTRALIAN TERMITIDjE, 
termites guarding the openings and not letting anything come out. 
Upon cutting down the walls these openings were found to run 
into low but broad roadways extending right through into the 
heart of the nest thronged with winged termites waiting until 
the withdrawal of the guards at the gateways. As soon as a 
breach was made in the walls they commenced to swarm out from 
all parts of the nest, and we were soon enveloped in a cloud of 
black winged termites buzzing about and dropping all round, 
causing quite a distinct noise, audible at a distance of several 
feet, an immense number falling to the ground. These winged 
specimens were found in chambers and passages all over the nest. 
Previously in the vicinity of Sydney I had noticed larvae with 
rudimentary wings in the early part of the year, but in their 
earlier stages the wings grow very slowly until after the winter 
months are over. Termites were noticed flying about near Sydney 
on the 2nd and 3rd of November in great numbers. 
As to the age of these large termitaria, it could only be positively 
ascertained by the extended observations of a resident in termite 
infested country. But out of a great number I have opened out 
I have only found one deserted, and it was only on cutting a 
portion of it down that I discovered this fact, for to all outward 
appearance it did not differ from the inhabited nests. 
Smeathman and Savage, writing on the celebrated Termes 
bellicosus, state that the fullgrown queen lives for five years, the 
former being responsible for the statement that she lays 60 eggs 
a minute and never stops (presumably during the five years). 
Though he produces no evidence for this statement, it has been 
copied into nearly all the popular works and text books on 
entomology up to the present date, even appearing in Kirby's 
Text Book, published in 1885. As the working community of 
the termitarium have a fresh supply of females to come forth 
every season, and also very often a number of supplementary 
queens in the nest (I have obtained 10 specimens of these queens 
from one nest, which are I believe perfectly distinct from the 
ordinary winged queens, as they are not recruited from the winged 
forms but produced directly from the egg); it is therefore pretty 
