62 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1919 
for a considerable ’ length of time without food. About five 
days after starting the new home, the female begins to lay 
from one to five eggs, at intervals of two or three days. It 
takes the eggs about a month to hatch, and the adults that de- 
velop therefrom are mostly workers, only a very few soldiers 
being produced. Sexual individuals are not produced until 
later, when the colony is already well established. The nymphs 
of soldiers do not exhibit the characteristic appearance of their 
respective mature forms until about the last instar, or imme- 
diately before the insect reaches the adult stage. Nymphs of 
the sexual caste are larger than those of either soldier or 
worker and are easily distinguished by the presence of wing 
pads on those areas of the body where the full-grown wings are 
to develop later. The nymphal stage of the soldiers and work- 
ers lasts about a month ; no definite observation has as yet been 
made in connection with that of the winged form. In about 
three months after the establishment of the nest, a sufficient 
number of small workers has been developed to start the work 
on a fungus garden and on the preliminary construction of 
the new mound which is to become the permanent home of the 
colony. 
In a well-established nest the royal chamber is located a little 
below the level of the surface of the ground. It is a hollow, 
plano-convex chamber, with thick, irregular, clay walls and nu- 
merous passageways connecting with the adjoining parts of the 
nest. Within the chamber are the king and the queen, attended 
by a large bodyguard of soldiers and workers. Occasionally, 
two queens are found occupying the same chamber in a nest; 
but in all cases not more than one male is present. The king 
has not changed his appearance since he first came down from 
the nuptial flight; he is still very lively and is likely to slip 
away and escape detection unless some care is exercised in re- 
moving the royal chamber from the nest. On the other hand, 
the queen has changed considerably. Her abdomen is much 
engorged, with eggs; and the abdominal tergites and sternites, 
once closely connected, are now situated far apart, with their 
connecting membranes greatly distended. The insect at this 
time presents a characteristic sausagelike appearance. Her ac- 
tivity is restricted in so far as locomotion is concerned; and 
she is now entirely helpless — actually a prisoner in her own cell. 
The workers feed her, clean her body, and look after her personal 
comfort. Her abdomen exhibits a succession of peristaltic move- 
ments, attended by a continuous discharge of more or less ellip- 
