OBSERVATIONS ON TERMITES IN JAMAICA 203 



the crawling movements of the legs. In captivity, in glass 

 cells, the queens sought to get upon rough surfaces and to move 

 away from light, following along in the stream of workers and 

 escaping, if possible, even through small holes by long efforts. 

 The number of joints in antenna of the queen varied from 



2 to 14 and was not always the same right and left. * But even 

 the winged forms in the nest may have 14 or 15 on one side and 

 9 or less on the other, so that the loss of joints is not necessarily 

 connected with the assumption of sedentary life. 



Each queen was surrounded by workers and soldiers and seen 

 to be fed from the mouths of workers. The body of the queen 

 gives off much moisture that condenses on the glass roof of 

 artificial cells and must be replaced from the mouths of work- 

 ers. That this exudation of moisture may carry with it sub- 

 stances that remain on the surface of the body of the female 

 is suggested by the fact that some 20 or less workers constantly 

 stand along each side of the queen and perform scraping move- 

 ments with their mouth parts over the skin of the abdomen. 

 A queen crawling along a road made by workers in an artificial 

 nest was surrounded by more than 40 attendants. 



The eggs are some quarter of a mm. or so in length and emerge 

 from the female at the rate of about i a minute in clusters of 



3 or 4 or more up to 7 or 8. They tend to collect in a mass at 

 the point of issue but the workers were seen to seize the eggs 

 in small groups and to carry them away. The eggs are very 

 sticky and may adhere by chance to the heads of soldiers where 

 they long remain, but normally they are taken in the mouths 

 of the workers and much manipulated before they are carried 

 out of the artificial cell to a distance of i or more inches and 

 then they are fastened up against the ceiling. Over night 500 

 or 600 eggs were thus laid and carried away to be stuck in various 

 clusters here and there. 



While the soldiers were seen to work at the eggs as they issued 

 none were carried off by the soldiers, except by accident as above 

 stated. 



In 2 nests were found deaelated forms that seemed to be males. 

 One nest had 4 queens and 2 males and the other 4 queens and 

 I male. However, other males may readily have escaped notice, 

 especially as they were not particularly sought for. The nest 

 with I male and 4 large, stout queens was a very populous nest 



