Protozoa From New Zealand Termites. By Frances R. Nurse, M.Sc., Canterbury University College, Christchurch. [Read before the Canterbury Branch, May 3, 1944; received by the Editor, September 1, 1944; issued separately, March, 1945.] Introduction. The intestinal fauna of the termites of New Zealand has not up to date been dealt with fully. Helson (1935) described a new protozoon belonging to the order Hypermastigina, Spirotrichosoma magna from Stolotermes ruficeps Brauer. There are two termites endemic to New Zealand, Stolotermes ruficeps and Calotermes brouni. Helson did not state a locality for his material, but there is reason to believe that it was obtained from Westland. Material for this paper was collected from Banks Peninsula, where both S. ruficeps and C. brouni were present in Podocarpus totara and P. spicata and one colony of S. ruficeps was recorded from Griselinia littoralis; also both genera were collected in the Nelson district; C. brouni from Laurelia novae zelandia and from the weather boards of an old farmhouse where it had caused considerable damage, and S. ruficeps from Metrosideros lucida. Material of each genus was often collected from adjacent logs and indeed, in one case, both from one log where the sampled areas were 20in apart. In every case each genus had its characteristic fauna and no intermingling of the protozoa was found, in fact an attempt to cause the fauna of the two genera to intermingle was unsuccessful in the laboratory. S. ruficeps was also obtained from the Teremakau Valley, Westland. The flagellates described are Polymastigotes belonging to the families Devescovenidae, Oxymonadidae, Joenididae and Tricho-monadidae. Material and Technique. Studies on living material were made by diluting the contents of the gut in either 0.75% saline or Ringer's solution. The large flagellates kept their shape for a much longer period in saline, which was most useful for a general study. On the other hand, in Ringer's solution the protoplasm tended to disintegrate after half an hour, leaving the neuromotor system intact, which was then more easily studied. The three small flagellates behaved equally well in both solutions. Fixatives used were: Schaudinn's without acetic, Bouin's, Flemming's without acetic, Zenker's and Osmic vapour. Mallory's triple, Heidenhain's iron-alum haemotoxylin, Delafield's haemotoxylin and Erhlich's triple stains were used. Eosin or acid fuchsin was used as counter-stain for Heidenhain's iron-alum. Neutral red and methylene blue were used as intra vitam stains while alcoholic iodine served for emphasising flagella. The best results in general observation were obtained with living material. A trace of alcoholic iodine in the saline or Ringer's solution rendered the flagellate clear and transparent so that the internal structures were clearly visible.