I FIPE-HiIsTORY OF BOMACS 49 
Hoffer relates how his scepticism about the 
existence of the so-called trumpeter was suddenly 
dispelled by his discovering it at 3.30 A.M. in a very 
populous nest of B. ruderatus, variety argillaceus, 
he had set up in his window facing south-east. 
Morning after morning the trumpeter arose about 
this time and continued to hum for about an hour. 
He roused his wife and children, and they, too, saw 
and heard the trumpeter. 
After the queen has laid altogether from 200 to 
400 eggs that will develop into workers, the number 
depending upon the species and the vigour of the 
queen, she begins to lay others that are destined to 
produce males and queens. 
It is almost impossible to distinguish the male 
brood from the worker brood, but the full-grown 
queen larve and the queen cocoons may be known 
by their larger size. Sometimes the cocoons in each 
cluster contain males only or queens only, but often 
the two sexes are mixed. As a rule, the earlier 
batches produce chiefly or only males, and the later 
ones chiefly or only queens. In some nests, how- 
ever, all the eggs are female, not a single male being 
produced. This happened in a strong colony of 2. 
pratorum that | kept under observation until it died 
out. In other cases males only may be produced, 

her Dominions. I saw her Majesty drop down behind a little Eminence, and, 
after having languish’d a short Time, she expired. The whole City was incon- 
solable on the Occasion. The Drum did not beat the Signal that Morning as 
usual. A heavy Melancholy sat on every Brow. The number of the Inhabi- 
tants since that time has daily diminished, and they are continually removing in 
Quest of a new Settlement.” 
E 
