92 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



the nest, or at least that portion of the nest which is above the 

 surface of the ground. 



In the subfamily Termitinae some species are destructive wood- 

 borers and others injurious to growing vegetation. 



Amitermes wheeleri Desneux in Texas is a destructive wood-borer, 

 boring through and honeycombing the hardest wood (pi. 7). It is 

 probable that A. californicus Banks has similar habits but not A. 

 tubvforrruL7is Buckley. In regions where there is little or no wood 

 A. wheeleri lives in the roots and lower rosettes of the leaves of the 

 plant called by the Mexicans " Lechuguilla " {Agave, species). It has 

 also been found burrowing in the dry dead flower stalks of Agave and 

 under and in chips of dry cow manure. 



A. californicus also has similar habits in regions where there is 

 little or no wood. 



In the prairie or semiarid regions of Texas, Amitermes tuhiformans 

 Buckley lives in the ground, in pasture tracts, feeding on the roots of 

 grass and other vegetation, often being found within and under dry 

 cow dung and under stones. This species has the destructive habit 

 of covering grass and other vegetation with earth-like tubes, thereby 

 killing it. Another species of Amitermes (arizonensis Banks) lives 

 in arid and desert regions in Arizona. These two species of Ami- 

 termes are not wood-borers. Species of Constnciotermes, Nasuti- 

 termes {" Eutermes"), and Anoplotermes, while subterranean and 

 injurious to vegetation, so far as is known, do not damage wood in 

 the Southwest. They live in the ground under stones, logs, and cow 

 chips. During dry seasons, when the earth is caked and cracked, 

 these termites, especially "Eutermes," are difficult to find, for their 

 burrows extend deep into the soil and they themselves retreat far 

 below the surface. The most favorable localities under such condi- 

 tions are moist meadows or along the banks of irrigation ditches, or 

 under fairly moist chips of cow manure. 



In case of some species of earth-inhabiting (subterranean) termites, 

 which occur in the southwestern United States, in the worker caste, 

 the tibiae of the prothoracic legs are enlarged — that is, markedly 

 swollen or subfusiform and spinose — subfossorial legs — used in 

 digging, yet not greatly modified (Snyder, 1919). Possibly this is 

 an adaptation for digging in the soil which often becomes caked and 

 hard. However, worker termites, where observed excavating, invari- 

 ably carry away particles of earth in their mandibles and then return 

 for other particles. 



Termites with the tibiae of the prothoracic legs markedly fusiform 

 are Amitermes tubiformans Buckley, A. arizonensis Banks, A. 

 wheeleri Desneux, A californicus Banks, and Anoplotermes fumosus 

 Hagen. In Anoplotermes fumosus the shape of the tibiae and tarsi 

 give the leg a peculiar short and stubby appearance (pi. 8, figs. 1-8) ; 



