ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



7 5 



toucans and the squeaks of hummingbirds. 

 Passing over scores of sounds, there come to 

 mind at high noon the cries of caracara hawks, 

 the splashing of great fish in the warm water, 

 the high notes of white-fronted antbirds on the 

 battle front of army ants, and the hammering 

 of giant woodpeckers. Then toward late after- 

 noon we hear the shrill cries of parrakeets 

 swinging in compact flocks down to roost in our 

 bamboos. With them come the soft night notes 

 of great black caciques. 



The 6 o'clock cicada, or "bee," as the natives 

 call it, lifts his rasping wail almost on the hour, 

 and ushers in the evening sounds. When the 

 tinamous have closed their sweet, plaintive trills, 

 the great tree-toads take up the harmony, and 

 send reverberating, rumbling roars far across 

 the water. Then come the night-hawks, the 

 who-are-yous, the great tree-crickets and finally 

 the poor-me-ones from the distant swamp. 



There are only three of us in the Station at 

 present, but we have much company. There are 

 seven leaf-nosed bats which hang in a tight 

 little bunch from the rafters, and hawk past our 

 lamps, winnowing the air about our heads for 

 the insects which come to the lights. Then 

 there are tarantulas, — grey and brown, — which 

 come out and catch big moths and beetles, and 

 finally a multitude of geckos, which scurry 

 across the walls and occasionally utter their 

 quaint little shivering cry. 



We had an automatic house-cleaning one day, 

 more thorough than sand blast or vacuum 

 cleaner, when the army ants invaded us and 

 sent five columns into the house from different 

 points, the end of each spreading out into a 

 living network whose meshes closed upon every 

 creature, spider, lizard, bat. moth, centipede or 

 scorpion which fell within them. We ate a meal 

 or two sitting on the table while the ants in 

 legions ran about beneath. These soldier ants 

 with their great curved scimitars of mandibles 

 are a very good reason why one does not linger 

 long in the vicinity of an attacking column of 

 these insects. 



Here at Kartabo we have begun that work of 

 naturalists, which is endless. Though we spent 

 our whole lives in this one spot, we could do no 

 more than to outline the problems. Here we 

 have begun a collection of mammals, — skins, 

 skeletons, and whenever possible, living ones, — 

 and within walking distance have already 

 gathered over thirty species, ranging from a 

 tiny mouse opossum to a full-grown jaguar 

 which was secured only after it had killed many 

 sheep and cows across the river. 



Here we have chosen our various fields of 

 work and endeavor to concentrate on them. 

 But often it taxes all one's resolution to be dis- 

 secting a specimen, and looking up to see an 

 Indian with some strange animal, or one of the 

 servants with a new frog or a leaf butterfly, or 

 caterpillar with unheard of markings, or an 

 orchid which has suddenly come into bloom; or 

 to listen to a strange new bird note ringing out 

 from the jungle nearby, — and to disregard all 

 these and keep on trying to get at the wherefore 

 of the one thing in hand. Reading Herbert 

 Spencer in a subway rush-hour car, or discuss- 

 ing an oriental theory of relaxation at a crowd- 

 ed afternoon tea. are quite comparable with the 

 study of a single fact or factor at our jungle 

 laboratory, except that in the first case, the dis- 

 turbance is from unworthy distractions, in the 

 latter from a multitude of equally alluring 

 subjects. 



THE TERMITES OF KARTABO. 



By Alfred Emerson, Jr., 



Research Assistant, Tropical Research Station. 



IN the tropical jungle of Guiana every stump 

 and every decaying log has one or more col- 

 onies of termites, and nearly every stick or 

 fallen branch has been eaten by them until only 

 a shell remains. 



These interesting insects show a high special- 

 ization in social development, as high, probably, 

 as the bees, wasps and true ants. However, be- 

 cause they exhibit many primitive characteris- 

 tics of development and form, they are placed 

 near the bottom of the classification of insects, 

 while the other social insects are considered the 

 highest. 



They are undoubtedly a group which separ- 

 ated early from the rest of the insect world and 

 the development through the ages has been along 

 exceedingly interesting lines of specialization. 



In addition to their great interest from an 

 evolutionary standpoint, they are of high im- 

 portance economically. Where they are abun- 

 dant, they do immense damage to houses, books 

 and timbers, often not suspected until the wood 

 collapses or the books are taken from the shelves. 

 The true home of termites is near the equator 

 where the largest number of species are found. 

 They gradually become less numerous as they 

 approach the temperate regions, only a few spe- 

 cies reaching as far north as Canada. 



Kartabo. in the midst of the tropical jungle, 

 offers an immense field for observation upon 

 these interesting insects. In three months' time. 



