April 7, 1911] 



SCIENCE 



531 



described in detail and with a number of strik- 

 ing illustrations. The fungus {Volvaria 

 eurhiza) which is cultivated and eaten by T. 

 redemanni is described and figured in accord- 

 ance with Patch's investigations published in 

 1906 in the Annals of the Eoyal Botanical 

 Gardens of Peradenyia. 



One of the most interesting portions of this 

 chapter deals with social symbiosis, or the 

 tendency of two species of termites or of 

 termites and ants to inhabit the same nest. 

 Thus Escherich often found Termes ceyloni- 

 cus and obscuriceps in the same termitarium, 

 but each species inhabited galleries of its own, 

 and although these were mingled they did not 

 inosculate and the two species, when the nests 

 were undisturbed, were always separated from 

 one another by masonry walls. If the insects 

 of the two colonies, however, were made to 

 meet through a breaking down of the walls, 

 their behavior towards each other was de- 

 cidedly hostile and bitter conflicts ensued. 



Singularly enough, each of these species had 

 its own fungus-gardens, the chambers contain- 

 ing which were seen to be intermingled when 

 the termitarium was sectioned. Escherich be- 

 lieves that r. obscuriceps is the original archi- 

 tect of the nest, whereas T. ceylonicus is 

 merely a " Eaumparasit." Another case of 

 ■similar symbiosis is furnished by Capi-iiermes 

 ceylonicus and incola, each of which may in- 

 habit the nest of T. redemanni or obscuriceps. 

 In this case, also, the Capritermes inhabits 

 small burrows of its own in hills built by the 

 Termes and violently attacks the latter when- 

 ever it is encountered. The Capritermes sol- 

 dier has extraordinary asymmetrical man- 

 dibles by means of which it can jump into the 

 air or hurl its enemies away from the battle- 

 field. Other species, which Escherich found 

 nesting in the mounds of T. obscuriceps, are 

 Leucotermes ceylonicus, Eutermes escherichi, 

 Eurytermes assmuthi and Hamitermes quad- 

 riceps. In all cases these lived shut off from 

 but in very close proximity to their hosts and 

 were always inimical to the latter when the 

 two species were brought together. Hami- 

 termes, Leucotermes and Eurytermes may, 

 "however, live in independent nests. Speaking 



in myrmecological terms, the author concludes 

 that " all the phenomena which we ascertained 

 regarding the living together of different 

 termites belong without exception in the cate- 

 gory of ' compound nests,' as opposed to 

 ' mixed colonies.' " Concerning the relations 

 of ants and termites he says that in Ceylon 

 there is scarcely a termitarium which does not 

 harbor ants. The commonest species are 

 Camponotus rufoglaucus and its subspecies 

 paria and C. sericeus opaciventris. These 

 usually inhabit the outer walls or "Mantel- 

 region " of the nest. Escherich was quite 

 unable to observe any such relations as Was- 

 mann has described as existing between South 

 American termites and Camponotus termi- 

 tarius and has called " phylacobiosis " on the 

 supposition that the ant stations itself at the 

 nest-entrance and defends its termite hosts 

 from their enemies. Another common ant in 

 the Ceylonese termitaria is the tropicopolitan 

 Plagiolepis longipes, " which lives in nearly 

 every mound, or at least in its immediate 

 neighborhood, flitting like a shadow over the 

 opened portions of the nest and rushing into 

 the galleries and chambers to seize their occu- 

 pants." In agreement with Wroughton, Esch- 

 erich describes the habits of a ponerine ant, 

 Lobopelta ocellifera, which he calls " die Ter- 

 mitenrauberin par excellence." A whole army 

 of this ant may proceed in a file to a termi- 

 tarium, break into its galleries and carry away 

 the workers and larvae in great numbers. An 

 interesting new genus and species of ant, 

 Pwdalgus escherichi Forel was discovered 

 nesting in the termitaria in small chambers 

 which evidently communicated by means of 

 very slender galleries with the galleries or 

 chambers of the termites. Prom the great 

 disparity between the size of the queen and 

 that of the worker — the former measuring 

 5.5 mm., the later 1.1-1.2 mm. — it is inferred 

 that this species must be a thief-ant like the 

 species of Carehara, Oligomyrmex, Aeromyrma 

 and Solenopsis, which are also known to live 

 as thief-ants in termitaria or the nests of 

 other ants. 



Escherich discusses, in this connection, the 

 habits of a few guests or termitophiles, espe- 



