1889. ] NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, 97 
The yellows were evidently the most expert. I picked upa 
worker of the yellows and placed him on the nest of the whites, 
and he dismembered half a dozen of the latter before he was 
made to bite the dust. I could distinctly see the mangled legs 
of the slaughtered covering the battle-ground like white dust. 
I now left them, wrapped in astonishment at the wonderful 
works of the Creator. After dark, I returned with my lantern, 
and saw the workers of the yellows running among the slaugh- 
tered, nipping off a leg closer to the body of any which still 
struggled. ‘There was fully a pint of the slaughtered bodies. It 
was astonishing how quickly they were despatched. 
May 4th, 1888. Yesterday afternoon we had our first rain of 
the season, with thunder and lightning; and, as I have before 
remarked, the winged ants came forth, and | will send you some 
samples... . 
May 6th. To-day J cellected specimens of two more varieties 
of white ants, and have numbered them 3 and 4. The nest of 
No. 3 (identified by Dr. Hagen as Termes testaceus Linn.) I dis- 
covered in the window-casing of my office, which they have 
nearly destroyed, as also the frame. ‘They came through the 
paint in one spot, and were then discovered. I procured speci- 
mens of soldiers and workers. They are very different in form 
and color from what I term the common wood-ant. Their 
bodies are longer, and the soldiers, in place of the beak, have 
powerful mandibles of a dark brown color, with yellow heads, 
and white bodies which turn yellow in alcohol. The workers 
are milk-white, and hold their color in alcohol. Both have a 
fat, white, waxy look under the lens. The soldiers, when dis- 
turbed by being touched roughly, strike with the mandibles, 
and then vomit forth a drop of gelatinous, milky fluid. When 
slightly disturbed, they make the same spasmodic vibration that 
I have noticed in the nasuti soldiers of Hutermes; but as their 
bodies are somewhat longer, the movement is more conspicuous. 
I placed a number on a sheet of writing-paper lying loosely on 
my desk, and was astonished at the rattling noise they made. 
Balancing themselves on their feet, they would tilt their heads 
up and down, and strike their long mandibles on the paper so 
rapidly as to sound like a stream of fine gravel dropping on the 
paper, and could be heard for a distance of ten feet. I thought 
this movement a method of communication among them, as 
they made frequent use of it. Of course, the paper did not lie 
solidly on the desk, and so acted as a sort of soundirg-board. 
When attacked by other ants, they made wicked use of their 
powerful mandibles, and if the enemy was too much for them 
they would vomit a drop of the milky fluid, which seemed to 
suffocate the enemy. I noted that when dropped into the alco- 
