46 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FORESTS. 
teinic reproductive forms which eventually establish new colonies. 
However, this is only a theory, but otherwise what becomes of the 
large number of nymphs of the second form in colonies in the spring ? 
Surely they are not needed in the parent colony any more than the 
winged sexed adults, and it may be that they are impelled to leave 
the colony by the same irresistible force that induces the swarm. 
However, it is probable that workers and soldiers accompany them 
from the parent colony and that by means of subterranean passages 
they establish the new nest. Indeed, these forms may be the nu- 
cleus of the small bands of foraging workers and soldiers infesting 
decaying branches mentioned frequently in literature. The alterna- 
tive is, of course, that such bands become isolated from the parent 
colony and rear the reproductive forms. It seems that both meth- 
ods may be possible and necessary. 
DURATION OF DEVELOPMENT AND LIFE. 
The eggs of jlavipes hatch in about two weeks after they are laid. 
Workers developed from eggs laid on July 15, 1912, were 4.5 mm. in 
length by the following December, with 13 segments to the antennae. 
Both workers and soldiers complete their development within one 
year. 
Definite data on the duration of life of any individuals of Leuco- 
termes, not excluding even the royal pair, are lacking. However, the 
males or true kings of jlavipes continue to live with the true queens 
after copulation, the royal individuals probably living at least Rre 
years ; a neoteinic queens live at least one year and probably as long as 
true queens. Smeathman conjectures that a queen of Termes belli- 
cosus Smeathman when 3 inches long is about 2 years old. 
CANNIBALISM. 
There are many instances to show that termites are cannibalistic in 
their habits; all dead or injured individuals are eaten; also, according 
to Odenbach, larvas that have difficulty in molting. 
It is not at all rare to find, especially in cases of workers, a narrow*, 
grayish band, with black, scalloped, turned-up edges usually on the 
dorsum of the abdomen, but also sometimes present on the ventral 
surface and as a plate on the legs. This band is sometimes present 
on the abdomen of soldiers, and it also occurs on the thorax and 
head of workers. Possibly these black bands are healed-over wounds 
where the insects have bitten one another (fig. 9, c) , or they may be due 
to a bacterial or fungous disease, or to both wound and disease. 
These bands occur on workers and soldiers of both jlavipes and 
virginicus. 
a Heath, H. The longevity of members of the different castes of Termopsis angus- 
ticollis. Biol. Bui., v. 13, no. 3, p. 161-164, August, 1907. 
