4<S HAROLD HEATH. 



essentially the same as those of Tcnnopsis though their move- 

 ments are executed with greater deliberation. 



Tcnncs lucifugits, possibly introduced from Europe, has al- 

 ready been the subject of several papers, notably those of Les- 

 pes 1 and Grassi and Sandias, 2 and I have only a few observations to 

 add. In California this species is almost as abundant as Tcr- 

 mopsis and inhabits indifferently several species of oak, conifer 

 and eucalyptus and is sometimes resident in orchard trees and 

 vineyards. Occasionally it attacks the timbers of houses where 

 the moisture is sufficient though its ravages are not serious. 

 During the dry season from June to October, they frequently 

 abandon their haunts above ground and, by means of subterranean 

 tunnels, depart into more favorable regions. . On several oc- 

 casions I have seen them three or four feet beneath the surface 

 and I am told that in some of the more arid sections of the state 

 they sink their shafts to twice this depth. Under such circum- 

 stances the burrow does not follow roots as Grassi considers is 

 the case with the European form, but plunges directly into the 

 soil. This and other peculiarities connected with the burrowing 

 habits of this species may be readily observed if a number of in- 

 dividuals are placed in a tall glass jar filled with earth and chips 

 of wood. Almost immediately they commence to tunnel, re- 

 moving bits of sand and earth to the surface or storing them in 

 cracks with the rapidity of the 1 true ants. Within a week the 

 whole mass of soil is penetrated by a perfect labyrinth of tunnels, 

 which in many places where the walls are in danger of falling in 

 are lined with excrement. In old burrows the walls throughout 

 possess this lining. 



In addition to those galleries which pass downward into regions 

 of sufficient moisture there are others that traverse the earth more 

 or less parallel with its surface and sometimes, in the form of tun- 

 nels built of particles of wood, come above ground, where they 

 are concealed under sticks and leaves. In one colony inhabiting 

 a large root of the yellow lupine (Lnpitnts arborcus] in a patch of 



1 " Recherches sur 1' organisation et les moeurs du Termite lucifuge," Ann. Set. 

 Nat. (4), V. (1856), pp. 227-282, pis. V.-VII. 



2 " Costitu/.ione e Sviluppo della Societa dei Termitidi," Alti dtif Aacfademia 

 ^lot-ilia di Scicnze Natitnili in Catania, Ser. 4, Vols. VI. and VII. (1893-4). 

 Translation by W. F. Blandford in Quart. Jour. Mic. Set., Vols. XXXIX. and XL. 

 (1897-8). 



