536 



THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLI 



Berleses Entomology.— Fascicles 21-22 (pp. 585-648) of Berlese's 

 magnificent work ^ are just at hand. They conclude the discussion 

 of the nervous system and begin that of the organs of special sense. 

 Like the preceding fascicles these are not mere compilations but are 

 rich in new facts for the student of insect morphology. 



W. A. R. 



BOTANY 



The Fungi of Termite Nests. \Ve are accustomed to think of 

 Belt's classic observations on the leaf cutting ants of South America 

 as the beginning of our knowledge of the relationships between ants 

 and fungi, but Fetch ^ assures us that Sweathman in 1781, nearly a cen- 

 tur>' before Belt's discoveries, stated that in tropical x\frica some species 

 of termites had chambers in their nests in which grew a kind of fungus 

 used by the ants as food. Although the "fungus gardens" of the true 

 ants of tropical America have been quite fully described, we have had 

 until the present time no comprehensive treatment of the similar habits 

 in the termites of the Eastern Hemisphere. Fetch brings together 



scattered observations on this sul)j( ( t. 



Ceylon does not afford such variety of form and size of tcrinit(>s as 

 Australia and Africa, but the nests of Trrmrs mimunni and T. obsruri- 

 ceps, the onlv two species which Fetch studied, are abundant every- 

 where except in the highest districts. The ant hills, roughly conical 

 in form, are only about six feet high. Their upper portion is con- 

 tinued into one or more hollow conical structures called chimneys. 

 The form of the nests varies greatly; they may slope gradually to the 

 top of the chimneys, they may branch into several chimneys or they 

 mav have a solid apex and bear the chimneys at the side. They are 

 built of earth and grains of sand brought up from the interior of the 

 nest and cemented together by a secretion of the termites. A large 

 portion of every nest is underground. In the early stages of develop- 

 ment the presence of a nest is usually indicated by three or four chim- 



coU uomo vol. 1. Milan. Societd Editrice Libraria. 



2 Fetch, T. The Fungi of Certain Termite Nests. Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. 

 Peradeniya, 3: 185-270, pi. 5-21. 1906. 



