76 
Psyche 
[September 
Perhaps because they were already enclosed, many of the pairs 
worked intermittently for as long as a month to construct the copu- 
larium: irregular grooves in wood beneath the cover of the dish or 
chambers within the wood, measuring roughly 5X 10 X6 mm. Semi- 
liquid fecal material was used freely between wood and cover to 
encircle the grooves or to plug the chamber entrance. Some pairs pro- 
duced up to six eggs within the first two or three weeks, while others 
produced no eggs during ten months of observation. The eggs are 
opaque, pinkish white and ultimately measure approximately 0.7 X 
1.7 mm. Both sexes occasionally manipulated or cleaned the eggs 
with their mouthparts, but the eggs were not kept together in any 
particular place. No detailed observations were made on the progress 
of these incipient colonies, although most of the eggs had not hatched 
at the end of six months. Replacement reproductives of both sexes 
have been found in fragments of colonies in the laboratory and in 
natural colonies. In the latter case it has not always been possible 
to determine whether they were heading distinct colonies or were 
associated with remote parts of colonies headed by primary reproduc- 
tives. They are pale yellowish-brown and possess very short wing 
pads. As would be expected, these preliminary observations show 
that captive colonies of Pterotermes provide good material for many 
types of biological studies. 
Colony size and other biological notes. Incipient colonies, 
probably within their first year, have been found consisting of barren 
pairs and pairs with as many as eight nymphs and five eggs. One 
colony, presumed to be in its second year, consisted of 13 nymphs, 
one small soldier and one egg. Another pair, perhaps in their second 
or third year, had produced 29 nymphs, 2 soldiers and 5 eggs. Data 
on the size of five older colonies are presented in Table 2. Assuming 
that all were single colonies, the soldier-nymph ratio varied from 1 
to 20 in one of the smaller colonies to 1 to 68 in one containing 
nearly 3000 nymphs. 
It should be of interest to mention the extremely high temperatures 
which Pterotermes must commonly meet in its exposed nesting sites. 
Temperature records were kept in connection with the flight studies 
made on the caged colony in Tucson from July through September, 
1965. Temperatures were noted several times each day from a 
remote-reading thermometer, accurate to approximately db i°C. 
The bulb was fixed within the central galleries of the palo verde 
trunk, three feet above the ground. Brief excursions above 38° were 
common in the late afternoon and on one day reached 41. 8°; the 
maximum air temperature (shade) on that day was 38°C. The 
