1877.] 271 [Hubbard. 



notice from being covered and concealed by the workers which sur- 

 rounded her, or was chopped up by the cutlass used in breaking up 

 the nests. One small nest placed quite close to a large one, and 

 connected with it by a covered way, certainly contained no queen; 

 she was, however, found in the larger nest in the usual position. 



The nests of different species are very much alike in general char- 

 acter and appearance, varying, however, in hardness and in the color 

 of the material from light gray to very dark brown or black. The 

 termites do not all swarm at the same seasons, and some nests are 

 without nodules. Nests deserted by the termites are often found, and 

 they then become hiding places for numerous animals and insects. 

 In such old. nests the Yellow-bellied Parroquet (C onur us flaviu enter} 

 excavates her nest, and several snakes and lizards, particularly a 

 small Gecko (Splicer iodactylus argus), select them as places of deposit 

 for their eggs. 



Extracts from a Letter by Mr. II. G. Hubbard, relating 



TO THE ABOVE DESCRIBED TERMITES. 



Insects, including Neuroptera, were so scarce in Jamaica that I 

 gave my attention mainly to other things, and have hardly any bio- 

 logical material, except the termites I send you. I once observed a 

 large swarm of small dragon-flies (about one and one-fourth inches 

 long) acting very much as one sees certain gnats in the autumn here; 

 that is, they kept together in a cloud, and as it was a very windy 

 day they remained for hours in about the same place, under the lee 

 of a large tree, and too high from the ground for me to capture any. 

 I do not remember ever noticing a similar habit in any of our spe- 

 cies. I believe Gosse mentions the same thing in his " Naturalist in 

 Jamaica." In both cases they were true Libellulidce, not Agrions. 



I had less opportunity than I wished to study Termites. I could 

 not do much in travelling about the island by carriage, and it was 

 not until we settled down at a place in the country (Dromilly) that I 

 had a chance to observe their nests attentively. I am inclined to 

 believe that every tree nest, or with few exceptions, contains a single 

 queen. It is very easy to overlook the queen in cutting up a nest, 

 as the royal cell is not very distinct, and the queen is usually sur- 

 rounded by a dense mass of workers, so that she escapes detection. 



Nests Nos. 1 and 2, it seemed to me, were of the same species. I 

 did not find winged, mature or immature Termites in either nest. 

 About a week before I began the examination in detail of these 



PROCEEDINGS B. S. N. H. — VOL. XIX. 18 MARCH, 1878. 



