THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 79 



festivities. Good music is rendered in harmony. The concerted choruses 

 are pecuHarly effective, partly on account of their unique quality of cross- 

 syncopation. Many exceedingly dramatic features occur in the play, 

 especially where Paupukeewis leaps 50 feet from a rock out into the lake, 

 and where Hiawatha leads Minnehaha home, and his departure. During 

 pantomine parts the meaning of the action is explained by the dramatic 

 director through a megaphone. 



The president called on Dr. D. G. Fairchild, who gave an account of 

 some of his experiences in Java. The speaker described in an interesting 

 manner his observations on the fungus-cultivating termites. As is 

 generally known, these insects are enormously abundant and injurious 

 throughout the tropics. Timbers are destroyed in all situations ; in a few 

 cases even ocean-going steamers have been destroyed. The observations 

 of the speaker were made chiefly in the neighbourhood of the botanic 

 gardens at Buitenzorg. It was soon found that the interesting comb-like 

 nests of the termites were composed exclusively of the excrement of the 

 insects. This structure serves as a nutrient medium for the growth of the 

 fungous felt which lines all the passages. The conidiophores of the fungus 

 are interesting structures. Each species of white ant cultivates a different 

 species of fungus. The speaker's observations were chiefly confined to 

 Termes bellicosus. Young white ants are fed almost exclusively on the 

 conidiophores of the fungus. The speaker described the furious combats 

 which are frequently observed between different species of termites. The 

 individuals from different nests of the same species do not fight. The 

 workers fight even more furiously than the soldiers. One group of 

 termites was observed which did not cultivate any fungus, and which 

 carried on their combats by ejections of fluid from the head. This fluid 

 appeared to be very obnoxious. The nests of termites vary in size, from 

 that of a man's hand to 25 ft. in height. Some species have five or six 

 queens, and the queens lay about one egg per second. Many of these 

 observations were corroborated by Mr. C. L. Marlatt, who referred to 

 some of the habits of white ants, and who also spoke of toads as feeding 

 upon these insects. 



The subject of power sprayers was discussed by Mr. A. F. Burgess, with 

 special reference to compressed air sprayers, as invented and perfected by 

 manufacturers in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. According to one of 

 these schemes the air tank is charged with air under a pressure of 169 



