1890.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 167 



partly filled with water. This is the 7ie phis ultra termita- 

 rinin; its census has not yet been taken, but it must be in the 

 millions, as they are swarming over the surface of the soil and 

 pieces of ash for food, and delving down, seemingly to find the 

 foundation of their new home. I have mounted three termite 

 parasites on one slide, taken from the queens captured to-day, 

 and they look well. The glycerin jelly is better here than 

 the Canada balsam. 



February 14th, 1889. Your letter, with a copy of one from 

 Dr. Hagen to you, came last steamer. He seems to be puzzled 

 about species. When I am dissatisfied with the progress of my 

 observations, it is comforting to know that he is in the same 

 dilemma and is making haste slowly. I send you two photo- 

 graphs of the large nests, one of which please give to Mr. 

 Eiederer. When I think of the immense weight the little 

 workers have eaten and digested beyond what was necessary to 

 support life, it is astonishing. 



Capt, Lockwood, Mr. Clark, and Dr. Sturgis, officers of the 

 Cily of Para, were interested in seeing the two rows of soldiers, 

 ten inches long, with the little workers between plodding away 

 in single file building galleries, and all expressed their admira- 

 tion and astonishment. I will send you by them another sam- 

 ple of the Calotermes margmipennis found in the seat-frame 

 of a first-class coach. There were twelve seats damaged, and 

 we cannot explain how they got there; and thus far none have 

 been found elsewhere. 



There has come to me to-day a curious nest occupied by black 

 ants, built of mud and some glutinous substance, and stuck on 

 a twig of an orange tree; it is about three inches long, globu- 

 lar in shape, with a number of holes for entrance, one-qnarter 

 inch in diameter, and heavy for its size. — evidently a hornet^s 

 nest. 



The Nasutitermes (Eutermes) in the ''we ;;/w5 ultra" \\a,\e 

 built two bridges, running the gallery over the top, and started 

 the third one to-day and running it underneath. I have found 

 a nest with ttventy queens, about three-quarters of an inch long, 

 and think it must be a parent of several nests. With a block 

 of a Nasutitermes (Eutermes) nest I tried the experiment of 

 wrapping it in a damp towel. After forty-eight hours I un- 

 folded it, and found they had eaten their own nest and rebuilt 

 or covered up the ruptured passages. 



I send you with the photographs some native oak, also the 

 seat-frame eaten by Calotermes, and suggest that you cut it up, 

 for fear there may be live ants in it. 



March 12th, 1889. To-day, on the steamer JS'eivjJort, a gen- 

 tleman from Peru gave me an account of the Calotermes work- 



