OBSERVATIONS ON TERMITES IN JAMAICA 



E. A. ANDREWS 



From the Zoological Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University 



Division of labor amongst the free moving individuals of 

 communities is not restricted to human society but is found 

 in^the social insects belonging to the two very different groups, 

 Hymenoptera (ants, bees and wasps) and the Termites. In 

 these there may be distinct castes with specializations of labor 

 not directly connected with the reproductive functions. 



Much has been done toward an understanding of the behavior 

 of the Hymenoptera, but so little has been recorded regarding 

 the activities of the Termites that the following notes may be 

 of use, if but to call attention to the need of future exact ex- 

 perimentation in this interesting group. 



At Montego Bay, Jamaica, B. W. I., the large, dark-colored 

 nests of termites are conspicuous objects on trees and fences. 

 Some 20 nests, each a separate community, were examined and 

 the termites from them made the material for the following 

 observations in July and August. M. Dr. Jules Desneux having 

 very obligingly examined for me some specimens of the termites 

 used in these experiments writes that they are probably the true 

 Termes ripperti Ramber, belonging in the subgenus Eutermes. 



Each community has three chief areas of activity, the nest, 

 the passageways or " arcades " and the feeding grounds. In 

 each community one finds individuals of the following castes; 

 workers, soldiers, females, males, and also the young. We will 

 briefly describe those three areas of activity and then the special 

 functions of the different castes. 



Taking first the important connecting link between the nest 

 and the food, the dark-colored passageways seen on trees and 

 stones radiating out from the nest for 50 feet or more, we may 

 describe them as flattened arches forming side walls and ceiling 

 over the termites as they pass to and from the nest. These 

 passageways have the natural floor formed by the bark of the 

 tree or surface of the stone, etc., but the sides and ceiling are 

 constructed by the termites. The usual passageway, which we 

 will call an " arcade " as being a covered walk not hollowed out 

 as a tunnel but arched over, is about 7 or 8 mm. wide and half 



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