492 



J. C. BPvANNER GEOLOGIC WORK OF ANTS 



pages 574-575, and by J. C. Branner, Science, January 7, 1910, pages 

 24-25. 



Herbert H. Smith, a thoroughly trustworthy entomologist, mentions 

 phosphorescent termites near Santarem, on the lower Tapajos : 



"There are white ant-hills along the sides (of the road) — ^pale glows of phos- 

 phorescent light, like coals in the ashes. . . , The phosphorescence is in 

 the hills themselves, not, so far as I know, in the insects, and I believe that it 

 is peculiar to the mounds of one or two forest species."" 



Figure 11. — White Ants' Nest in a Tree, Salitre Valley, State of Bahia 

 J. C. Branner, 1907 



Prof. Harold Heath, who has studied the termites of California, has 

 given me the following statement :^^ 



"Regarding the luminosity of termites, T can confidently assert that the three 

 species {Termopsis angusticoUis, Galoterines castaneiis, and Termes luclfugus) 

 living in the vicinity of San Francisco do not exhibit this peculiarity. The 

 logs inhabited by these animals are occasionally infected by a species of phos- 

 phorescent slime mould (myxomycete), and when such colonies are disturbed 

 at night, in the building of camp fires, for example, particles of brightly shin- 

 ing wood, or of the mould itself, may be seen attached to some of the indi- 

 viduals, but there is no true phosphorescence of the body. Furthermore, I 

 have kept, during a period of several years, hundreds of colonies in glass Jars 

 placed in a cellar room, and these never showed any signs of the phenomenon 

 in question." 



"7 Herbert H. Smith : Brazil, the Amazon, and the Coast, p. 139. New York, 1879. 

 58 Stanford University, California, February 7, 1910. 



