1889. ] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 89 
and these swarm about the end of May or beginning of June. 
The soldiers and workers are blind and wingless, and do,not 
swarm. 
My experience with the decay of woods enabled me at once to 
recommend more durable woods for use on the Isthmus, which 
were at once adopted. In order to see whether those woods 
were proof against the ravages of the Termites, I arranged with 
Mr. J. Beaumont, Superintendent of Motive Power of the Pana- 
ma Railroad, to make continued observations upon the habits of 
the different species, and ascertain how far the woods recom- 
mended as less liable to decay were also proof against the ants. 
The interesting observations of Mr. Beaumont, contained in his 
Fig. 2.—Nest of Eutermes in the fork of a small tree, six feet above the ground: it 
contains four queens. At the root is a supplementary nest, with soldiers, workers, eggs, 
and winged ants, but no queen. 
numerous letters, have been compiled by Mrs. Dudley into the 
following paper: 
Coton (AsPINWALL), U. S. Cotomsta, 
March 4th, 1888. 
My Dear Mr. Duptey :—In answer to your questions 
about the habits and work of the Termites, I reply that one 
cannot fail to notice here, in the month of May or June, the 
swarming of the winged white ants,—after and during the first 
showers of the wet season. ‘hey cover and getjnto everything, 
so that one has to sweep them off from the balconies. Few 
