As is well known, the body of the queen termite, in the African and other tropical species, swells, when about to lay, to an enormous size, but this is not nearly so noticeably the case with her European representatives. Neither is a cell, in this case, constructed for her accommodation, but the royal pair, whether they are true king and queen, or only substitutes, “remain, in close proximity, in the heart of the nest, where the inmates are always most crowded.” They are not imprisoned, therefore; but can go from one place to another, should they, as sometimes happens, wish to change their situation. In this they would seem to be happier than their more specially accommodated royal cousins, but no doubt, with the latter, or at any rate with the queen, the instinct of locomotion ceases with the capacity to indulge in it. The purpose of the specially made cell is probably rather to guard than to restrain the queen. In regard to the swarming of white ants—another habit in which we are reminded both of ants and bees—with the subsequent founding of a new colony, Professor Grassi has the following remarks to make. They apply more especially to the larger of the two European species, viz. Calotermes. “Before swarming,” he tells us, “they collect near one of the exit-holes of the termitary, and when the proper time comes, issue from it in ones or twos, so that the twenty or thirty members who are ready to take flight emerge in perhaps a quarter of an hour. Once outside, they run upwards, if the locality admits of it, for a few metres, and then only do they take wing. In a room they fly towards the light, and if a wind is blowing they follow its direction. Some, becoming tired, settle soon upon trunks of trees, and all may do this eventually. Here they group themselves into pairs, the males and females of which must frequently be derived from separate nests, since the sexes swarm separately; this acts as a safeguard by which Calotermes habitually avoids in and in breeding. Matrimonial alliances having been thus formed, the work of excavation commences, each pair seeking for some decayed spot in which to bury themselves and become, in time, the parents of a fresh community. The wings, by this time, have been got rid of. They may be shed by coming into contact with an obstacle, or by getting damp and adhering to some spot, while the insect continues to move. But, if not favoured by chance, the Calotermite purposely rids itself of these now useless encumbrances. Thus four perfect insects were captured after flying about the room, and put under a piece of rotten wood. Hardly had they settled when they stripped off their wings by resting the tips against some projecting corner of the wood, and then moving backwards a little, so that the wings bent near the base, broke, and dropped off. When rid of them they began to gnaw the wood, at first along and then across the grain. When they encountered each other by