PROC. EXT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 22, XO. 5, MAY, IQ2O 95 



12th a small egg was noted on the piece of wood enclosed with 

 an adult female. It is barely possible that this was there when 

 the fragment of wood was enclosed, and is not the egg of Zoro- 

 typus at all. But that it is really the egg of this insect, and was 

 deposited by this specimen is very probable. This egg is r> / s mm. 

 in length by 3 '& broad, the ends broadly and evenly rounded and 

 the surface roughened by small hexagonal areas with elevated 

 divisional lines. The probability of this being the egg of Zoro- 

 typus is enhanced by the fact that this sculpturing of the surface 

 is as Mr. Barber recalls being true of a fragment of an egg he 

 found with /. hubbardi in Florida, and that another exactly sim- 

 ilar egg was found in the cans containing the colony of Zorotypus. 

 If this is really the egg of Zorotypits the size would indicate that 

 these insects probably deposit a single egg at a time. 



This insect does not thrive in solitary confinement, as out of 

 a lot of 27 specimens enclosed, mostly one in a receptacle, on 

 June 4, 1919, most were dead by June 20, a number dying before 

 that date and few living beyond the middle of July. Growth, 

 at least under such conditions, is seemingly slow, as nothing in 

 the way of development occurred, other than probable deposi- 

 tion of an egg by a female as noted above, and the changing of one 

 larva with S-jointed antennae enclosed on June 4 to a nymph 

 with 9-jointed antennae on the 25th. 



Conclusion. 



The discovery of the fact that Zoraptera is a winged order has 

 served to strengthen its distinction from allied groups. The re- 

 lationship of Zoraptera to allied orders is discussed by Dr. Cramp- 

 ton in the article immediately following this. 



The habit of shedding the wings by the adult alated form is 

 apparently an acquired one. In the blattid genus Panesthia 

 this habit is now apparently being acquired, but is in a com- 

 paratively early stage of development; here the wings are 

 torn off by only a moderate percentage of individuals and in a 

 somewhat irregular manner, the fracture, however, following more 

 or less the course of the anal vein. The development of this 

 habit in the Zoraptera approaches that attained in the Termites, 

 where in some cases there are well defined cross-sulci formed at 

 the point of alar rupture. 



Both species of Zorotypus are social insects, occurring in col- 

 onies of various sizes. They generally occur near Termites, but 

 are not usually mingled with them and are probably never really 

 inquilinous with them, as was at first thought probable, due to 

 their usual proximity to white ants and their frequent occupancy 

 of their galleries. Mr. Snyder took specimens oiJutbbardi at Ortega, 



