308 FETCH : 



iodiiie, no part of the mixture is coloured blue, but the amor- 

 phous masses are coloured violet with iodme after treatment 

 with caustic potash. 



^^llen a comb is broken up, the king and queen may be found 

 in any part of it. There is no special royal cell, and conse- 

 quently the queen is not confined to any particular region. 

 Moreover, she is not so abnormally" distended as the queens of 

 the mound-buildmg species, and hence she is able to make use 

 of her legs and move about fairly rapidly. The following 

 instance affords an illustration of her powers of locomotion. 

 A cylindrical comb, about 25 cms. high and 20 cms. diameter, 

 was removed from a cavity in a cinnamon tree, and gradually 

 broken up by the removal of slices on one side from the top 

 downwards. The queen was ultimately found at the base in 

 almost the last fragment, having evidently moved do^nl to 

 that position while the comb was bemg cut up. 



As a rule the queen is about an inch, or rather less, in length ; 

 her abdomen is swollen, cylinchic, and white, with a black 

 homy plate, above and below, in the middle of each segment ; 

 in some cases the abdomen is sharply constricted between the 

 segments, and hi one instance, where that \\as the case, its 

 colour was blackish. 



But though the queen may have moved to some other 

 position during the examination of the comb, it is evident 

 from the arrangement of the other uihabitants that her 

 normal situation is in the centre of it. This is shown by the 

 disposition of the eggs and larvae, which arc arranged concen- 

 trically round the centre. The eggs are deposited in the 

 galleries nearest the centre ; next to these, proceeding outwards, 

 the ])assages contain the larvae, the youngest nearest to the 

 centre and tiio older further away. Consequently, in a complete 

 oroHH section of the conil) one sees a circular zone of passages 

 which eoul.iiii eggs, surrounded by other zones which contain 

 larva' iu dilTcrcut stages of develo])ment. It is to be deduced, 

 therefoH', that th(^ proj)er position of the C[ueen is in the centre 

 of the comb. It would not be possible to detect this by an 

 exaniinnlion of the empty comb, since the galleries thomselvos 

 an? not arranged concentrically. The arrangement of the eggs 

 and larva} is concentric with regard to the centre of the comb, 



