1889.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 67 



The workers and soldiers of the same species from different 

 nests fight, and will not mingle. Young females of the same 

 species from different nests are kindly received, and are at once 

 adopted, according to the observations of Mr. Beaumont. Dr. 

 Hagen is of the opinion that two or three species often live in 

 common in the same nest This is not true upon the Isthmus. 

 One important thing to be observed in securing specimens from 

 the galleries is, that occupants of two different galleries must 

 not be included in the same collection, as if they were of one 

 species. The galleries of two species are often within a few 

 inches of one another on the same post or tree. This was very 

 confusing in the first series of specimens obtained. And it was 

 only after the differences in the galleries were more familiar that 

 the species could be separated. Dr. Hagen has never been in a 

 tropical country, and is obliged to study the species from the 

 specimens sent him. I expect some of his collectors have 

 included specimens from two or more galleries in the same 

 bottle. 



Queens. — This class of individuals in a Termite community 

 has always excited the chief interest. Dr. Hagen thinks but 

 one queen will be found in one nest. In nearly all of the 

 queen-cells from the Isthmus and now before you more than 

 one queen wa.s found. These queens are comparatively smaller 

 than those from Africa, which are of other species. Dr. Hagen 

 showed me queens from Africa, ranging from two to six inches 

 in length, the largest being over one inch in diameter near the 

 head. In transverse section they are not round, as are the 

 queens before you, the dorsal view being broad, the median line 

 being slightly depressed, as though formed of two cylinders 

 laid side by side, the spaces between being occupied by the 

 digestive and nervous systems of the queen. This feature will 

 be understood when explaining a section of the queen of 

 £ufermes. 



The enormous development of the bodies of the African 

 queens, to several thousand times the size of a worker's body, is 

 due to the growth of the ova contained therein. It is reported 

 that the African queens lay an egg every second, or over 80,000 

 per day, and that they continue this for a year or more. This 

 does not seem possible. It implies that the queen can continu- 

 ously create nervous energy, without rest. And, further, that 



