1890.] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 177 



You were right about the queen of the C. marginipennis. I 

 have had a nympha pass from that condition to a perfect imago 

 in the calotermitarium, and then to a queen, and now expect her 

 to hiy. I have six calotermitariums under observation. I have 

 some Termes minimus making small galleries for me, and have 

 one of their queens in her own cell under my observation, hav- 

 ing made a glass window to it ; they soon drew over it a curtain 

 of cement, but what I saw was wonderful. 



June 14:th, 1889. To-day I have a man, with a bucket of ferno- 

 line and a long syringe, trying to destroy the T. testaceus in our 

 lumber-house. They are in it in large numbers, and I am daily 

 convinced of the rapid destruction here of lumber and buildings 

 by the united action of termites and fungus. I have under ob- 

 servation some bumpers made about four years ago, of sound 

 yellow pine and tarred. Now I can crumble them in my hand. 

 So far the Nasutitermes (Eutermes) and C. marginijiennis are 

 the only termites that attack sound lumber under my observa- 

 tion here, as I have never found T. testaceus, T. prceloyigus, or 

 T. minimus at work on any other than decayed wood. Nasuti- 

 termes (Eutermes) are commonly found on decayed wood, and 

 C. marginijjennis on sound lumber. 



While over the railroad yesterday I noticed at San Pablo two 

 storehouses owned by the Panama Canal Company had collapsed 

 from the eifects of termites ; tlie roofs had fallen, while the 

 gable ends were standing. At the Fox Eiver shops I found last 

 week the man in charge burning Nasutitermes (Eutermes) 

 nests found in the numerous buildings, and he had a large bon- 

 fire of them. 



I was interested to read of your interview with Dr. Hagen in 

 the Agassiz Museum at Cambridge, and wish I could have been 

 with you to see the doctor and his collection. I send thanks 

 to him for the African specimens, T. bellicosus, he gave you 

 to send to me. 



In an old Nasutitermes (Eutermes) nest from Frijoles I 

 found a number of Staphylinida?, and other varieties of ant guests. 

 I took many hours in examination of this nest, and the centre 

 vial — No. 30 — contains five specimens of new ant guests un- 

 known to me, and they may prove to be male Staphylinidse. When 

 it was jarred on a white plate while running, it carried the ex- 

 tremity of the abdomen turned over until it touched the thorax ; 

 but when touched it would work it back and forth as though 

 getting something from it. Being active, it was difficult to cap- 

 ture, and seemed to be on intimate terms with the workers and 

 soldiers ; as also the Staphylinidae, running to them for protec- 

 tion and seeming also to converse with them. 



