1889. | NEW YORK ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 107 
queen Hutermes from a nest in an old car used for stores in the 
shop yard. I had the pleasure of taking them from their nest 
myself. They both lay in acell close together. Their bodies 
are pure white, with dark brown bars across above and below. 
In another part of the nest, eggs were stored in large num- 
bers (Fig. 7)... . 
At one time I marvelled at the numbers of ants contained 
in one of their nests; but now my astonishment is great at the 
number of the nests, and of one species only, the Hutermes. 
Some new evidence of their skill and intelligence can be daily 
noted. Yesterday (June 23d, 1888) I took my chair and sat down 
in front of a box of growing plants in my garden; the Hutermes 
gag 
Fic. 7.—Eutermes sp. a, worker; b, soldier (nasutus); c, queen, before swarming; d, 
same after impregnation; e, same matured and full of eggs. a, b, enlarged*five diame- 
ters; c, d, e, natural size. 
have several tracks over the box, one of which runs along the 
top edge. I made a slight break in the track or gallery, and 
watched their movements through my lens. A worker drops 
off the edge of the box to the soil below; in coming up again, it 
runs against the track several inches away from the break, and 
begins at once to cut a hole in the track; in a few moments the 
gallery is pierced, enough for a soldier to squeeze through, and 
three come out to stand guard outside until the worker makes the 
hole large enough to admit its entrance. Presently it enters. the 
soldiers follow, and the workers at once proceed to seal up the 
hole from the inside,—the whole operation only occupying about 
ten minutes. 
