1865.] Notes and Queries. 189 



Notes and Queries. 

 Zoology. 



Reliable information has at last been supplied by Dr. Jerdon regard- 

 ing tbe workers of one of the Indian species of Dorylus, an Hyme- 

 nopterous genus, which, as F. Smith observes in his British Museum 

 Catalogue, ' at present (1859) consists of males only.' The following 

 extract from the Proceedings of the Entomological Society at their 

 May meeting will perhaps induce others to carry on Dr. Jerdon's 

 observations should opportunity offer. 



Mr. F. Smith read the following letter from Mr. T. C. Jerdon : — 



" Lahore, March lQth, 1865." 

 " I have at last got hold again, after a long absence, of the speci- 

 mens of workers of Dorylus, and they are, as you suggested, evidently, 

 I think, Typhlopone. It is, however, strange to say, quite a Termes 

 in its habits, working under ground entirely, and never coming outside 

 except when the males are coming forth winged, when they accom- 

 pany them in swarms to the holes by which they make their exit. 

 I first observed the workers at Mhow, in Central India, where they 

 had undermined a house so completely that the foundation had to be 

 dug up, and I there saw the winged males (Dorylus) issuing out of 

 the same holes as the workers. I afterwards saw them twice again ; 

 the last time in a green-house of the Botanical Garden at Saharunpore, 

 N. "W. Provinces. They were issuing every morning and evening in 

 great numbers from a hole in the flooring (lime), and several winged 

 individuals were with them, and these entered houses at night : this 

 was in February. I have met with Dorylus in every station where I 

 have been, and it is certainly curious that the workers are so little 

 known, as they must have been observed occasionally by hundreds of 

 Europeans. I have a lot in spirits and enclose you three or four in 

 this letter, enough, I dare say, to show if it is the same species men- 

 tioned in your ' Catalogue,' T. Curtisii, or not. Dr. Jameson laughed 

 me to scorn when I talked of digging up the flooring of his pet green- 

 house, but if I ever get an opportunity of another nest in a get-at-able 

 situation I will try and get at the mystery of the female. Surely, 

 however, some of the winged individuals must be females ; if not, then 



