472 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 
feebly with carmine, and contains numerous nuclei. In the appended 
gland the cells of the epithelium are, in places, very high, and form a 
number of longitudinal ridges which project far into the lumen of the 
gland. The tracheae which form a rich network around the testes do 
not extend into its cavity any more than in other Insects. 
The spermatogenesis of Lajphria is very peculiar, and recalls the 
process described by Verson for Bornbyx mori. At the blind end of the 
testicular tube there is a colossal cell, visible to the naked eye, from 
which all the contents of the testes arise ; in Lajpliria this stage is found 
in the imago. The huge cell gives off radial plasmatic outgrowths, in 
which numerous nuclei are imbedded; in the central mass there are 
always several large nuclei irregular and unequal in form. Nuclear 
division is not amitotic as in Bornbyx , but typically mitotic. 
Labial Palps of Hemiptera.* — Prof. N. Leon has been able to detect 
and photograph rudimentary three-jointed labial palps in Hemiptera, 
and therefore agrees with Gerstfeld’s interpretation of the proboscis. 
Termites, f — Prof. B. Grassi sums up the results of his study of termites. 
From nests of Calotermes Jlavicollis and Termes lucifugus there swarm every 
year many completely winged individuals ; in the first-named species 
some of these found new colonies, in the latter (in Sicily, at least) all are 
lost. The males usually swarm separately from the females — an obstacle 
to the pairing of closely related forms. A certain number of winged 
Calotermes in the course of swarming settle on the rotting trunks of 
trees. There, if not already bereft of wings, they get rid of them and 
begin to feed on the wood. The two sexes meet and pair, and each 
pair begins to found a new colony. The individuals which pair have 
shortened antennae ; no “ royal ” termite ever has entire wings. Termites 
communicate with one another by shaking the whole body, and the move- 
ment may be accompanied by a slight stridulation produced by rubbing 
the pronotum and the head together. The organ discovered by Fritz 
Muller on the tibia of termites is tympanal, and the insects seem to 
hear the noise of the above-mentioned shaking of the body. Termites 
feed on dead or rotten wood, on a pap of gnawed wood and salivary 
juice, on the faeces of other members of the colony, on their super- 
numerary fellows, or on the salivary secretions of some of their neigh- 
bours in the colony. They also drink water. 
By altering the proportions and quality of the food, the development 
of individuals destined to become perfect insects is arrested or diverted. 
Thus arise the workers, the more differentiated soldiers, and the com- 
plementary kings and queens. The differences in the nutritions are 
stated. At the head of the colony of Termes lucifugus there are hundreds 
of complementary queens ; the complementary males have a precarious 
existence. At the head of the colony of Calotermes Jlavicollis there is a 
royal pair once winged. If this pair be wanting, the colony provides 
a “substitutionary pair,” or, more precisely, a number from whose fierce 
struggles a pair survive. After stating some other interesting observa- 
tions, Prof. Grassi has a note on the Protozoa which are parasitic in 
Termites — Monocevcomonas termitis sp. n., Dinenympha gracilis Leidy, of 
the family Cercomonadideae ; Joenia annectens g. et sp. n., Trichonymjpha 
* Zool. Anzeig., xv. (1892) pp. 145-7 (1 fig.). 
t Atti R. Accad. Lincei, L (ser. v. 1892) pp. 33-6* 
