Fertile termite soldiers

In two earlier studies (Heath, †? 03, †? 27) attention was called to thefactthatinthetermitegenus Ter;nopsis, represented in Cali fornia by two species (T. nevadensis and T. angustiCollis), occa sional individuals occur which externally resemble a soldier and yet are sexually mature. In the typical soldier the head is dis tinctly longer than broad, whereas in the fertile type the two di ameters are the same or nearly so. Furthermore the jaws of both project far beyond the labrum, and are built upon essentially the same plan. Hence, unless it is decided that they belong to a spe cial caste, these unusual insects must be looked upon merely as soldiers with fully developed sex organs. Up to the time when the manuscript of the later paper went to press only four of this type of termite had been discovered. Since then fourteen additional individuals have been collected, and it now appears that they may prove to be of rather frequent occur ence. All of these later acquisitions were living in essentially the same conditions. A limb of a Monterey pine (Pinus radiata), ten or fifteen feet in length, and evidently occupied by a colony of T. nevadensis throughout its entire extent, had broken off near its base, and in falling had broken into several fragments. When the weathering of these, and the depth they had sunk into the leaf mold indicated a sojourn of several months each fragment was carefully opened. A large number of such colonies were examined, and while in most instances complemental royal forms were present, those with soldier-like appearance existed in approximately twelve per cent. of the communities. In addition to their relatively small heads the behavior of these fertile soldiers is unmistakable. Unlike the typical soldier, which moves about from place to place in the observation nest, the fertile type remains in close association with the normal complemental in