BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 419 



houses in specimens of foreign timbers; in 1874 such a family was 

 <:lisco\ered in the pahii house at the Royal Gardens at Kew, 

 where they were isolated and kept under observation for some 

 time, specimens being exhibited by Mr. R. McLachlan^" at a 

 meeting of the Entomological Societ}'- of London in 1874. 



Turning to Africa, we find that termites are very generally 

 distributed, about twenty species having been catalogued in 

 Hagen's list from this part of the world; of these two are peculiar 

 to the Isle of France, and one to Madeira; some species are very 

 local and confined to small areas, while others have a very wide 

 geographical distribution. The famous Temnes bellicosus, immor- 

 trviised by Smeathmanf in the earliest and most complete account 

 of mound-building termites, according to Hagen, ranges round 

 the whole coast line of Africa. 



As might be expected, the nearer to the equator the more 

 plentiful the termites; and nearly all equatorial travellers have 

 something to say about these pests. Paul Du Chaillu| gives a 

 general account of several species on the west coast in his popular 

 works of tra^'el; Oates.§ notices those in Matabele Land, and 

 figures one of their larger nests; while Professor Drummond|| deals 

 extensively with those found in the Lake jS^yassa country. 

 Though termites are so plentiful on the main land, I can find no 

 species recorded from Jiadagascar. 



The hold that the white ants have obtained on that rock-bound 

 island, St. Helena, is a remarkable instance of accidental coloniza- 

 tioji. It is stated on good authority that before the year 1840 

 white ants were unknown on this island; but at this date a 

 captured slaver was condemned and dismantled at Jamestown, in 



* R. McLachlan. Proc. Ent. Soc. p. xiii. 1874. 



t H. Smeathman. On the Termites of Africa and other hot climates. 

 Pliil. Trans. Koyal Soc. London (Abridged Edition), Vol. xv. p. 61, 1781. 



t P. du Chaillu. Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, p. 

 314, 1868; and My Apiugi Kingdom, pp 115-142, 1871. 



§ Frank Gates. Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls. London, 1881, 

 p. 134. 



;; H. Drummond. Tropical Africa, chap. vi. London, 1889. 

 B B 



