108 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [ FEB. 4, 
‘l'o-day I have been watching how they enlarge their nests, 
which they appear to do periodically, or rather as necessity re- 
quires. The nest was somewhat globular in shape, and they 
were making it one story higher or larger all around, by form- 
ing upon the old surface a number of cones or pillars of irregu- 
lar shape, but all about the same height, a half inch or so, 
and then uniting or roofing over these pillars. Some were roof- 
ing, while others were raising the cones. I have sent you sam- 
ples of this roofing material; it is very delicate, but answers the 
purpose as a protection from the sun and rain. It somewhat 
resembles the surface of a nutmeg grater, having minute open- 
ings, supposably for ventilation. 
Fic. 8.—Head of Hutermes soldier (nasutus) enlarged 25 diameters, seen sidewise and 
from above. Five tactile hairs are shown; and the interior tube or ‘‘gun” is visible 
through the chitine of the head. 
One of the functions of the Hutermes soldier seems to be to 
act as a guard to the worker, and it ejects a glutinous liquid, 
probably from the beak, in self-defence or when alarmed (Fig. 
8). It still puzzles me how and upon what it feeds. I can find 
nothing inside their nests, no fungous growth, and am ready to 
believe that they are fed by the workers. This will be a difficult 
point to settle, for without doubt they are fed inside the nests. 
June 23d, 1888. While walking in front of our new round- 
house this afternoon, I detected the ants at work on one of 
the posts, and saw at a glance that it was the species mentioned 
as No. 3, 7. testaceus L., the same that completely destroyed 
