Hymenoptera from Catagallo. 325 
Termite. Various conjectures have been promulgated by Hyme- 
nopterists as to the probable economy of the genus Trigona. 
Nests of enormous magnitude have been described, and their 
inhabitants represented as countless in number ; so that the pro- 
bability of more than one queen reigning in each community 
appeared to me highly probable. I have myself indicated a 
parallel economy between these bees and the social ants, whose 
formicaria are tenanted by numerous prolific females. The dis- 
covery, however, of a female under the conditions described ap- 
pears to me to militate strongly against the supposed analogy 
between TZ'rigona and Formica. The enormously developed abdo- 
men of the queen, rather, I believe, indicates a parallel economy 
between the Z'rigone and the Termitide. All the accounts of the 
latter insects, with which I am acquainted, describe a single female 
capable of depositing eggs in sufficient numbers to carry out all 
the purposes of their multitudinously tenanted habitations. Such, 
I believe, must also be the economy of the genus Z'rigona ; but 
subsequent investigation is necessary to confirm or disprove my 
conclusions. 
Besides the gravid female I also discovered five other bees of 
the same sex ; but these in no way differed, either in colour or 
size, from the host of workers; and had I not been most carefully 
bent on searching for that sex, they must inevitably have been 
overlooked. The simple form of the posterior tibia alone dis- 
tinguishes them, this joint in the worker being broadly flattened 
and adapted for conveying pollen to the hive. These females I 
regard as so many virgin queens, destined probably to lead forth 
swarms and establish fresh colonies, as in the case of the common 
hive-bee. I am not, however, aware of any instance of such 
economy having been recorded; but if my conjecture respecting 
the gravid female be correct, my latter supposition becomes highly 
probable. 
The following is the description of the female and worker :— 
Trigona Mosquito.—Female : length a little over four lines ; head 
and thorax nearly black; the antenne, clypeus, tegule, scutellum 
and abdomen yellow; head narrower than the thorax ; wings ex- 
tending to the second segment of the abdomen; the abdomen 
twice as long as the head and thorax, much distended with eggs, 
the segments much constricted ; the posterior tibia simple, not 
expanded as in the worker. 
Worker: length two lines, varying much in depth of colour, 
according to age, adult specimens having the head and thorax black 
AA2 
