The Philippine Journal of Science, C. Botany. 

 Vol. XIII, No. 4, July, 1918. 





THE FUNGI CULTIVATED BY TERMITES IN THE VICINITY 

 OF MANILA AND LOS BAnOS 



By William H. Brown 



(From the College of Liberal Arts, University of the Philippines, and from 



the Bureau of Science, Manila) 



TWO PLATES 



It is well known that certain species of termites use their 

 excreta for building combs upon which grow fungi that serve 

 as food for the young and for the queen. Petch ' has given 

 a very extensive account of the fungi of the termite nests of 

 Ceylon and, more recently, has written a general review of the 

 literature on termite fungi. In the latter publication - he has 

 shown that the same fungi occur on termite combs in very 

 widely separated geographical regions. 



Certain termites, which are very common in the vicinity of 

 Manila, build nests that in many ways are similar to those 

 described by Petch. These nests are of two types. One con- 

 sists of a mound of earth which may be a meter or more in 

 height and frequently in addition has cavities underground. The 

 other is entirely underground. Within the nest are a large 

 number of cavities connected by passages. In the center of the 

 mounds (Plate III, fig. 1) there is usually a hard portion which 

 contains the queen chamber and smaller cavities and passages 

 connected with it. Outside of this region the cavities are larger 

 and usually contain combs. Plate III, fig. 2, represents a section 

 of the outer portion of a large nest. 



The combs (Plate IV, fig. 1) are composed of small balls 

 closely packed together and appear to be built from the excre- 

 ment of the termites. In this, they agree with Petch's descrip- 

 tion. Their composition is quite different from the substratum 

 of the "fungus gardens" of the Attii which according to Belt 3 

 are usually composed of fragments of leaves but also of flowers 



1 Petch, T., The fungi of certain Termite nests, Ann. Bot. Gard. Pera- 

 deniya 3 (1906) 185-270, /. S. 



2 Petch, T., Termite Fungi: A resume, Ann. Bot. Gard. Peradeniya 5 

 (1913) 303-341. 



3 Belt, Thomas, The Naturalist in Nicaragua (1874), ed. 2 (1888). 



223 



