22 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL. MUSEUM. vol.61. 



Measurements. 



Length of entire soldier : 5-6 mm. 



Length of head with mandibles : 2.20-2.45 mm. 



Length of head without mandibles: 1.40-1.50 mm. 



Length of left mandible : 0.9O-O.95 mm. 



Length of pronotum : 0.305-0.406 mm. 



Length of hind tibia : 1-1.005 mm. 



Width of head (at widest point) : 1.102-1.35 mm. 



Width of pronotum : 0.805-0.95 mm. 



Type locality. — San Juan Pueblo, Spanish Honduras, which is in 

 the hills north and inland from Ceiba, which is on the coast. 



Described from a series of soldiers collected at the type locality 

 by Dr. W. M. Mann, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, February-March, 1920; Soldiers were also found at 

 Lombardia and Ceiba, Spanish Honduras. 



Type, soldier.— Cat No. 24571, U.S.N.M. 



Genus ARMITERMES Wasmann. 



In this interesting genus the soldier caste is an intermediate be- 

 tween the mandibulate soldier and the "nasutus" or soldier with 

 a nasus or beak, since soldiers of species of Armitermes have both 

 mandibles and a nasus. The relative lengths of the mandibles and 

 nasus vary with the species and are of taxonomic value. A. inter- 

 viedius Snyder has mandibles and nasus of approximately equal 

 length, hence the specific name. In front view, the head of the 

 soldier reminds one of the head of an elephant. 



The nasus is an organ of defense as well as the mandibles and is 

 probably a more effective weapon in nasuti than the mandibles in the 

 mandibulate soldiers; a sticky substance is exuded which "gums up" 

 ants and other enemies. 



There is a remarkable progressive development of the frontal 

 gland from Reticulitermes Holmgren, where it is merely a circular 

 opening (" retrocerebral " gland) up through Mirotermes Wasmann, 

 Goftotermes Wasmann, Coimitermes Wasmann, Armitermes Was- 

 mann, to Nasutitermes Banks and C onstiictotei^m^s Plolmgren, where 

 the mandibles are rudimentary and the nasus long and well de- 

 veloped. Even in the Kalotermitidae or lower termites there is a 

 slight trace of the frontal gland. 



The "nasute" soldier is merely a more highly specialized man- 

 dibulate soldier and a much more useful member of the colony — a 

 mutant or " segregant " worth while. 



In Rhinotermes Hagen the minor soldier, the " gabel nasutus " of 

 authors, has the labrum extended into a slender tube, forked at the 

 tip. In Armitei^mes intermedius the tip of the labrum is hollow and 

 tubular. 



