OF WASHINGTON. 39 



lished beyond a doubt, an interesting question would be pre 

 sented, viz., is T. lucifugus a native of Europe or of America? 

 Of course, it may have been introduced from Europe into North 

 or Central America at an early date, but in looking over the his 

 tory of the species as detailed by Dr. Hagen in his Monograph 

 the reverse appears to be more probable. The species occurs in 

 all Mediterranean countries of Europe, as well as in Hungary 

 and western France, causing at times considerable damage ; but 

 previous to the year 1797 it never attracted any attention ; nor is 

 the occurrence of a termite in Europe ever mentioned by the 

 older authors. Dr. Robe-Moreau,* in 1843, raised the question 

 whether T. lucifugus could be an importation from America, but 

 left it undecided. Dr. Hagen adds that " at any rate such trans 

 portation is not impossible, " but in his subsequent writings he never 

 returned to this subject. A study of the inquilines of this species, 

 if there be any, would definitely settle this question. T. lucifu 

 gus^ so far as known to me, has no inquilines in Europe, and if 

 we should succeed in finding among this species in Central or 

 North America peculiar inquilines /. ., termitophilous insects 

 which do not occur among any other species of termites, then 

 the home of T. lucifugus would be America. 



The first notice of the occurrence of this species is in Proc. 

 Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. xix, p. 73, 1877, where Dr. Hagen 

 determines a termite collected by Baron Osten Sacken at 

 Manitou, Colo., as belonging "to a new species, which, singu 

 larly enough, comes nearest to the Termes lucifugus of Europe." 

 Besides the species found at Los Angeles, Cala., by Mr. Coquil- 

 lett, I have seen numerous others collected at Manhattan, Kans., 

 by Mr. Marlatt. 



Workers and soldiers of T. flavipes and T. lucifugus appear 

 to be indistinguishable, but the images can readily be separated. 



3. Termes tub if or mans Buckley. This is the grass-destroy 

 ing and tube-constructing species referred to on p. of these 

 Proceedings. It is extremely abundant throughout southwestern 

 Texas, occurring, in the spring beneath and within patches of 

 cow dung, and after midsummer in the tubes around grass 

 halms and the stems of other plants. I have never found the 

 true nest, but it is evident that it must be looked for deep in the 

 ground. The species never occurs in logs or other woodwork. 

 Only the workers are known to me ; they differ conspicuously 

 from those of T. flavipcs and lucifugus by the dirty, grayish- 

 white color of the head. Buckley describes (Proc. Ent. Soc. 

 Phil., I, p. 213-215) the worker, soldier, and supposed female, 

 but his description contains so many glaring errors that no 



* See Hagen's Monogr. d. Termiten, Linn. Ent., 10, p. 135. 



