660 



ECIENGE. 



LN. S, Vol. VIII. No. 202. 



with a microscopic sward of fungal Lyphte 

 which give to it the appearance of a neatly- 

 cut lawn. Rising scattered over this lawn 

 are innumerable cabbage-shaped bodies 

 from microscopic beginnings up to sizes as 

 large as that of a pin head. These bright, 

 almost pearly lustrous bodies, which give to 

 the galleries a most fairy-like appearance, 

 are the compound conidiophores of a species 

 of fungus, presumably a hymenomycete, al- 

 though cultures of the spores of the mature 

 hymenomycete found growing from the 

 combs failed to establish a connection be- 

 tween the mature form and the cabbages, 

 or more properly termed cauliflowers, since 

 they, like the cauliflower, contain organs of 

 propagation. 



Photographs showing the nests of three 

 distinct species of Termite possessing three 

 distinct forms of cauliflowers were shown, 

 and attention was called to the fact that 

 these three species of Termite, although 

 building their nests side by side, often in con- 

 tact with each other, begin immediately a 

 deadly warfare with each other whenever 

 the workers or soldiers, which latter possess 

 large shear-like mandibles, of one nest tres- 

 pass upon the domains of a neighbor. Un- 

 like the wars of the real ants, in which, as 

 Lubbock has shown, each nest is a unit 

 and its inhabitants war with the inhabi- 

 tants of any other nest of the same species, 

 the wars of the Termites are race or species 

 affairs. Termites of one species collected 

 in Buitenzorg, Java, and taken toTjibodas, 

 some 15 or more miles distant, showed the 

 friendliest relations with individuals of the 

 same species collected there, while individ- 

 uals of different species, though coming from 

 nests actually almost touching each other in 

 the same hill, fought in the arena of an in- 

 verted watch glass, invariably, until one or 

 the other was killed, and often mutilated 

 in a most shocking manner. The fights of 

 these Termites offer unrivalled opportuni- 

 ties for a study of the psychology of these 



lower animals. The fact that these Ter- 

 mites do actually live upon the ' cauli- 

 flowers ' of the fungi found growing in 

 their nests was proved by repeated exami- 

 nations of their stomachs, in which the re- 

 mains of characteristic conidiophores and 

 half-digested conidia were discovered. The 

 extreme sensitiveness of the insects to 

 light prevented direct observations being 

 made as to their method of eating the cauli- 

 flowers. 



The three forms of conidiophores were 

 remarkably distinct mycologically, and yet 

 the general effect of the cauliflowers made 

 up of these conidiophores grouped together 

 in masses was much the same. Drawings 

 illustrative of these differences were shown. 

 Erwin F. Smith, 



"Washington, B. C. Secretary. 



( To ie concluded. ) 



ACTA OF THE INTERNATIONAL CONFER- 

 ENCE ON SCIENTIFIC LIJERATORE.* 



OPENING MEETING, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11 



1. Professor Darboux moved that Sir 

 John E. Gorst be the President of the Con- 

 ference. The vote having been unani- 

 mously accepted — 



2. Sir John Gorst took the chair and 

 welcomed the delegates. It was then re- 

 solved : 



3. That Professor Armstrong be the Secre- 

 tary for the English language. 



That Professor Korteweg be the Secre- 

 tary for the German language. 



That M. La Fontaine be the Secretary 

 for the French language. 



4. That the Secretaries, with the help of 

 shorthand reporters, be responsible for the 

 proces verbal of the proceedings of the Confer- 

 ence in their respective languages. 



5. Professor Foster read out the names 

 of delegates appointed to attend the Con- 



* From Nature ; a copy has not as yet been received 

 by Science. 



