66 JOURNAL OF THE [-A-pi'il, 



running to the wood-work of the roof. The latter has been 

 completely tunnelled, and is now being replaced. Breaking the 

 galleries seems to do but little good. They are quickly 

 repaired, or new ones are constructed. In the Panama Railway 

 shops the galleries are broken every Saturday. 



Mr. Beaumont has made many observations on the repairs of 

 galleries, one or two of which I will describe, to show how 

 carefully they are guarded. Making a breach in one of about 

 three-quarters of an inch in length, he killed a common ant and 

 pinned it in the middle of the breach. A worker approached 

 it closely, and then ran away. A nasutus soldier then ap- 

 proached, made an examination and ran off. A number of 

 workers came back and cemented the ant fast to the wood. 

 And finally, in repairing the gallery, they ran it around the ant, 

 leaving the latter outside. The soldiers are the last to enter the 

 gallery before it is closed, remaining near the orifice on the 

 inside until the last brick is in place. A breach of one-half to 

 five-eighths of an inch in length has often been repaired in 

 twenty minutes. 



Mr. Beaumont, wishing to see them repair a larger breach, 

 made one of about six inches in length. A sufficient number of 

 soldiers came out to form a line in single file on each side of 

 the ruptured gallery, and between the files workers closed up 

 the breach, working from each end, and finishing at the centre. 



Another observation worthy of note was in making a breach 

 in a gallery, which ran over a small box. A worker was dis- 

 lodged and brushed from the box to the ground. He ran up 

 the side of the box, and found the gallery some six inches from 

 the breach, which he did not attempt to find. But after cross- 

 ing and recrossing the gallery two or three times, evidently to 

 be sure it was right, by many efforts with his mandibles, he 

 made a small opening in the gallery and tried to thrust in his 

 head. This caused a commotion inside, and two or three of 

 the soldiers' beaks were seen in the new opening, evidently to 

 learn what was trying to come in from the outside. All seemed 

 to be satisfactory, for the worker was allowed to enlarge the 

 opening, and soon two or three soldiers rushed through and 

 stood guard, until the worker gained admittance and disappeared 

 within. The soldiers followed him, and other workers from the 

 inside finally closed the opening. 



