no 
2. Is the rubber in the nest used as food by the termite ? 
(a) To feed the young larvae. 
(b) To serve as food during the period of inactivity, if there 
is one. 
3' The origin of the nest. How is it first formed ? 
4- Where do the termites found in the nest in the crown of the 
root come from in the first instance ? 
5- Length of time which elapses from period of first attack to 
time the tree is seen to be dying. 
Depth below the surface at which the termites work. 
7- Proportion of active workers to non-workers in a community. 
8. — Do the insects always work in the dark ? 
9. It is possible to reach the nest without killing the tree? 
10. — The position occupied by the king and queen termites in the 
nest. 
11. — Are there any subsidiaiy galleries radiating from the cen- 
tral nest to other parts of the plantation, either shove or 
below ground ? If so, where do these go ? 
12. — Is the nest connected in any way with adjacent ones in 
neighbouring trees. 
*3- — The parts played by the heterocerous larvae and the grub and 
beetle of the coleopterous pupa found in the nest. 
These are some of the points which occur to me as requiring 
solution. Doubtless others will present themselves to Managers on 
the spot. Until we have answers to these questions from careful 
observations made on the spot, it is almost impossible to say what 
would be the best way of combating this extremely serious pest. 
So much money has been, and is being, put into rubber plantations 
in what may be termed the Indo-Malayan region, which is evidently 
the home of Termes Gestroi , that it behoves us to take up this 
question of the study of its life history fully and without delay. 
I shall be exceedingly obliged if readers of this note will kindly 
send me all the information they can procure upon the insect at an 
early date. 
Indian Forester Vol. XXXII, p. no. 
NOTE ON THE ABOVE. 
This paper by Mr. Stebbing seemed well worthy of reproducing 
in the Bulletin as not only does it go as far as is known into the 
history of the pest, but propounds a series of queries which some 
of the planters might be able to answer. 
The statement that the termite eats the rubber seems highly im- 
probable and surely requires verification. Rubber is of course 
found in the hollow of the tree having exuded inwards from the 
b^rk. The termites in ordinary trees bore from the hollow trunk 
