TERMITE ECONOMY. 



By ClaudI'. Euller, I'.E.S. 



I sh.ould like to touch Ijriefly upon some of the new facts 

 regardino- termites which have come under my i)ersonal ol)serva- 

 tion during the past two or three years, and to refer to one or two 

 features of their economy which a])i)ear to me of ])articular 

 interest. 



It is not proposed to deal at length with any one phase, and 

 my contribution will have served its purpose if it shows that some 

 achance has been made, and better still if it should awaken 

 some more general interest m these insects. A considerable 

 amount of data regarding the dislril^ution and behaviour of the 

 A'arious s])ecies has yet to be obtained, and this can only be so 

 gained b}' accessions to the ranks of obser\'ers, at i^resent no 

 stronger than the writer, his ofhcial colleagues, and a few non- 

 scientific friends. 



I think it may be safely said that the biological interest 

 attaching to termites is very nmch greater and \t'r\' nuich more 

 varied than that pertaining lo any other insect grou|). Their 

 social habits, the systematic cultivation of fungi by some, the 

 singular i)re])aration of stomodseal and i^roctodaeal foods, the mul- 

 ti]:)licit\- of forms displayed ])y any given species, the ])eculiar 

 insect-creatures which associate with them, their general parasi- 

 tism by infusoria, their mining and architectural activities, are all 

 both separately and collecti\el\- arresting; and, at the i)resent 

 moment there is no telling {n what remarkable revelations the 

 elucidati( n of any one of these aspects may lead, nor what 

 important liearing it may have ui)on some other ob.scure i)roblem 

 which Nature presents. Here in South Africa the oi)portunity 

 for all to make some novel discoxery regarding termites stands 

 e\er reach' to be embraced. 



The i)ractical interest the_\' evoke is rather general, l^ecause of 

 the mischief done by some to woodwork, to fruit-trees, and to 

 croi)S. Here at least one would expect to find the field well 

 explored, but this not the case. Much has yet to be learned 

 because, whilst damage is often heard of, and wonderful tales are 

 often told, the actual culi:)rit has but seldom been determined — it 

 is just a white ant — and in some cases habits ha\'e been attributed 

 to species which do not possess them. 



Somewhat ai)art stands the relationship I)etween the activities 

 of termites and the sjjread of trees and bushes, and together with 

 this feature the good they do. or at least, ha\e accomplished 

 through past ages as soil im])rovers. 



According to my references, we have quite a number of dif- 

 ferent species in South Africa, but the list probably indicates 

 more kinds than have really vet been discovered, notwithstanding 

 the fact that as many as eight new species have quite recently 

 been added. This peculiar position arises out of the fact that 



