OBSERVATIONS ON TERMITES IN JAMAICA 225 



On various occasions many termites were put into small 

 volumes of water and either shaken or allowed to stand till a 

 yellowish or whitish opalescent liquid that might smell strongly 

 of termites was obtained. When alien termites were put for a 

 few minutes in this liquid they generally evoked the same re- 

 sponse as when soaked in pure water, but there were some 

 cases in which the solutions seemed to have specific effects. In 

 these cases the termite moistened with the wash from aliens 

 seemed to be more violently attacked by its fellows than if it 

 had been only washed in water. Moreover the length of immer- 

 sion in the liquid need be but brief compared to the time neces- 

 sary to produce results by washing, as a rule. Such termites 

 were also notably immune to attack amongst their fellows in 

 whose liquids they had been immersed, while this was not often 

 the case with washed termites. However, few very decisive 

 results came out of these experiments, since it was difficult 

 to distinguish between the results of washing and of immersion 

 in foreign extracts. 



In some striking cases workers wet in alien extract were 

 surrounded but not attacked amidst the aliens, while a dry 

 worker thus treated was violently attacked. Even when the 

 wet worker attacked the aliens it was immune to their attacks, 

 so that it suggested a wolf in sheep's clothing attacking the 

 sheep but not attacked by them. Of course, here again, the mere 

 wetting may have affected the aspect of the termite so that it 

 called out no response from the aliens, though it plainly was 

 affected by them. That is, the aliens may have neglected to 

 attack the termite wet in juices from their own fellows, not 

 because they were deceived by a familiar aura, but because 

 they were not stimulated by the foreign aura which had been 

 in some way annulled by the wetting. 



Evidently there is need of experimentation to solve the many 

 questions that arise in connection with these termites. 



SUMMARY 



I. A community of Eutermes ripperti is made up of workers 

 and soldiers chiefly, may be half a million in number, and as 

 these castes have no immediate concern with reproduction, are 

 without eyes, and lack the specialized structure of the higher 

 groups of communal insects, it would seem that study of their 



