Miscellaneous. 283 



Moreover, since the terminology of the mouth-parts in Crustacea 

 is, in the majority of cases, only based upon their relative position, 

 and not upon their development, I do not think it is impossible to 

 regard the true larval kidney of Cirripedes (the pseudo-kidney in 

 the adult) as homologous in a general way with the shell-gland of 

 the other Crustacea. — ComjHes liendtis, t. cxix. no. 26 (December 24, 

 1894), pp. 1228-1230. 



On the Formation of New Colonies by Termes lucifugus. 

 Ey J. PfiKEz. 



Although the biology of the Europeau and exotic Termites has 

 engaged the attention of numerous zoologists, some of whom are of 

 the highest rank, the origin of the societies of these insects still 

 remains enveloped in complete obscurity. Neither de (iuatrefages 

 nor Lespes has observed the swarms of sexual individuals which 

 at certain periods escape from the galleries, and to which has been 

 attributed the mission of founding wq-w colonies. Fritz Midler even 

 goes so far as expressly to deny that they perform such a function. 

 He writes as follows : — " As to the males and females of Calo- 

 termes, I will not absolutely refuse to admit that they possess the 

 capability of continuing to exist by themselves and of commencing 

 a new settlement. In the case of all species of Termes, Entermes, 

 and Anoplotermes, however, with whose mode of life I am to 

 some extent acquainted, a winged pair would undertake the founda- 

 tion of a new colony with precisely the same success as a pair of 

 new-born children deposited upon a desert island" (' Jenaische Zeit- 

 schrift,' Bd. vii. 1873, p. 458, note 1). 



In spite of so absolute a denial on the part of the eminent zoolo- 

 gist just quoted, it is, I think, evident that a social species devoid 

 of the faculty of disseminating itself at a distance would be doomed 

 to fatal and early disappearance. Dissemination must and does 

 exist in the Termites. 



When a nest has furnished a swarm of winged males and females 

 there are always to be found in the proximity of the colony, or even 

 about the orifice of exit, a few stray individuals which have lost 

 their wings. They go, as a rule, in pairs, the -one following the 

 other very closely. The leader is invariably a female, while her 

 follower is a male. When these couples are captured they speedily 

 perish, unless they are kept under natural conditions, which appar- 

 ently has never been done. 



My own method of proceeding is as follows : — In a large jar 

 containing a certain quantity of earth is placed a block of old dead 

 wood, it matters little whether of oak, fir, or elm. More earth is 

 then added, so as to surround the lower part of the wood to a height 

 of several centimetres. One or more pairs of Termites, which are 

 then placed upon the wood, quickly creep between it and the earth, 

 and take up their abode in some depression, either underneath or 

 upon the sides of the buried portion of the wood. A few drops of 

 water added from time to time, so as to restore the moisture which 

 is lost by evaporation, are suflicient to keep everything in its proper 



