422 AUSTRALIAN TERMITIDjE, 



knowledge of these insects in working out the life-histories of 

 those found in the vicinity of Santa Catherina. White ants have 

 been described from Banda Oriental and the Argentine Republic 

 on the east to Chili on the west. 



All the West Indian Islands are more or less infested with 

 them. Cuba has several species. Hubbard"^ has described the 

 habits of those found in Jamaica, of which the tree nest building 

 Eutermes rip'pert/ii is the most plentiful; Maynardr has noted them 

 on the Bahamas, and Moseleyj on the Yirgin Islands, while 

 Hagen has catalogued them from St. Domingo and St. Thomas, 

 and Marshall§ has studied the habits of Eutertnes destructor in 

 Antigua. 



Central America is very thickly infested with them, and during 

 the construction of the Panama railway line they did an immense 

 amount of damage to the rolling stock and wood work of the 

 houses. Two officers of the company, Messrs. Dudle}'- and Beau- 

 mont, |I kept a number in captivity and discovered some interest- 

 ing habits of the commonest species. 



The common species in North America is Termes flavijyes, 

 which is distributed nearly all over the United States, with 

 several others more local in their habits. Scudderll has recounted 

 their ravages in Florida. Buckley*"^ has described two species from 



* H. G. Hubbard. Notes on the Tree Nests of Termites in Jamaica. 

 Proc. Best. Sec. xix. pp. 267-275, 1878. 



t Mavnard. Notes on the White Ants in the Bahamas. Psyche, v. 

 pp. 111-118, 1888. 



X H. N. Moseley. Notes by a Naturalist on H.M.S. Challenger, p. 12, 

 New Edit. 18^4. 



§ T. A. Marshall. On the Habits of some species of Termites in Antigua. 

 Proc. Ent. Soc. p. xxxiv. 1878. 



II P. H. Dudley and J. Beaumont, ObservatioDS on the Termites or 

 White Ants of the Isthmus of Panama. Trans. New York Acad, of Science, 

 Vol. viii. 1889. 



1[ S H. Scudder. Ravages of White Ants in Florida. Canadian Ento- 

 mologist, xix. p. 217, 1887. 



** S. B. Buckley. Descriptions of two new species of Terniites from 

 Texas. Philad. Entom. Soc. Proc. 1861-63, pp. 212-215. 



