483 
found containing immature winged forms and eggs, but careful 
search failed to reveal anything m the nature of a royal cell 
which in all probability is not built by this species. The vast 
majority of nests contain merely soldiers and workers, and 1 
concur with Dr. Haviland in thinking that it is extremely proba- 
hie that the greater number ot communities are without king or 
queen and are merely offshoots from some central nest from 
which immature forms, and possibly eggs, aie conveyed. Ln 
conditions with which we are at present unfamiliar, it is not 
unlikely that sexually active males and females may be produced 
bv post-metamorphic. changes. The tenmtaria or nests are con- 
tinued within the trunks of the trees attacked and are formed of 
narrow labyrinthine chambers composed of woody and earthy 
matter that has passed through the alimentary canal of the - 
sects, the whole of the interior of the tree being more or less 
filled up with this material, which replaces the wood as it is eatei 
away. Judging from the state of development of the immature 
winged forms above referred to, it is probable that the swarming 
season, like that of the other species of termites in this colintr J’ 
is from September to Christmas, and it is before and during this 
period that repressive measures should he most energetically 
carried out. It appears too, that on any given estate, the centres 
of attack are comparatively few in number, and there is therefoie 
the more reason to believe that if vigorous preventive measures 
are persevered in for a considerable time, the pest will gradually 
abate. 
XIV. — Natural Enemies of Termites. 
The most important enemies of termites are undoubtedly the 
true ants, which may often be seen carrying off the workers to 
their own nests. Three specially active species are the kermga 
(Oecophylln smaragdina) a small red species of Camponotus often 
seen running about the trunks of the rubber, and a very long- 
leaded, slender black species, also probably a Camponotus , whose 
nests are often found inside the termitana, and seem to be regularly 
provisioned with larval white ants. Of the vertebrates, bears are 
reputed to occasionally break open the larger mounds, and 1 have 
seen the stomach of a binturong crammed with a small jungle- 
dwelling species. Birds of many varieties gorge themselves with 
the winged forms during swarming. Frogs and toads, including 
Megalophrys nasuta, Bufo melanostictus and Callula pulchra, also 
live largely on termites. 
None of those enemies, however, could be made any practical 
use of, but it might be possible to utilise the services of a species 
of South African mongoose, Herpest* badius, subsp. gracilis, 
which experiment* has shown to feed almost entnely on white 
ants. Ventures in acclimatisation, however, are always hazardous, 
and often end in the most unlooked for and unwelcome results. 
* Report of the Hope Professor of Zoology. Oxford 1903, p. 53. 
Vm - 
