Corrodentia 2 79 



Dr. A. L. Pickens (unpublished communication) has devised what is 

 probably the most successful method of keeping laboratory colonies of 

 Reticulitermes. A thin piece of wood, preferably decayed, is carved 

 with grooves along the grain and occasional connecting grooves across 

 the grain. The grooves are made wide enough to allow termites to pass 

 each other. The piece of wood is dampened slightly and placed with 

 grooved side down on the bottom of a lidded glass vessel. A mixture of 

 damp soil and sand is then packed in above it. By means of a wire a 

 tunnel is sunk to connect with the end of one of the grooves in the wood. 

 The termites are introduced through this tunnel and soon establish them- 

 selves in the wood below. A few drops of water are added as needed to 

 keep the soil damp. The colonies are kept at ordinary room tempera- 

 ture. 



Bibliography 



Cook, S. F., and Scott, K.G. 1933. The nutritional requirements of Zootermopsis 



(Termopsis) angusticollis . J. Cell. Comp. Physiol., 4:95. 

 Harvey, P. A. 1934. The distribution and biology of the common dry-wood 



termite Kalotermes minor. II. Life history of Kalotermes minor in Kofoid, 



Light, Horner, Randall, Herms, and Bowe, Termites and termite control (2nd edit. 



[2] ; Univ. Calif. Press), pp. 217-233, figs. 72-75. 

 Heath, H. 1927. Caste formation in the termite genus Termopsis. J. Morph. and 



Physiol., 43:387- 

 Hendee, E. C. 1933. The association of the termites, Kalotermes minor, 



Reticulitermes hesperus, and Zootermopsis angusticollis with fungi. Univ. Calif. 



Publ. Zool., 39:111. 



1934. The role of fungi in the diet of termites. Science 80:316. 



Kofoid, C. A., and Bowe, E. E. 1934. A standard biological method of testing 



the termite resistivity of cellulose-containing materials in Kofoid, Light, Horner, 



Randall, Herms, and Bowe, Termites and termite control (2nd edit. [2]; 



Univ. Calif. Press), pp. 517-553. figs. 131A-131C. 

 Light, S. F. 1934. Habitat and habit types of termites and their economic 



significance in Kofoid, Light, Horner, Randall, Herms, and Bowe, Termites and 



termite control (2nd edit., Univ. Calif. Press), pp. 136-149. figs- 33-38. 

 Snyder, Thomas E. 1935. Our enemy, the termite. 8°, pp. xiv + 196. Comstock 



Publishing Co. Ithaca, N. Y. 



Order corrodentia 



TROCTES DIVINATORIA* 



THE book-louse, a more or less cosmopolitan, parthenogenetic insect, 

 is excellent as a source of material for life history studies by classes 

 in entomology. Each student is given a mature specimen from which 

 to obtain eggs, and the following equipment must be available: 



♦Abstracted from an article in Ann. Ent. Roc. Amer. 23:192, 1930, by O. W. Rosewaix, 

 Louisiana State University. 



