136 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



K. minor is without doubt a distinct species. This termite 

 occurs in the United States in California and Arizona, also probably 

 northern Mexico. 



In California, K. minor has been found at Palm Springs, Los 

 Angeles (Coquillett), Cypress Point (near Pacific Grove) (Snyder), 

 Monterey, Los Gatos (Snyder), San Jose (Bush), Palo Alto (Doane) 

 and Niles (Snyder). 



It is the commonest species of the genus Kalotermes in California. 

 It lives in dead trees, logs and branches, but also injures the wood 

 of telephone and telegraph poles, often burrov>^ing through the dry 

 wood high up in the pole. 



H. G. Plubbard found a colony of this species on March 1, 1897, 

 at Palm Springs, California. This was a small colony of about 40 

 to 50 individuals in an old Polyporus fungus on a cottonwood or 

 willow tree; in this colon}'' were young sexual individuals and two 

 soldiers. This interesting region has a palm and cactus type of 

 vegetation. 



At California's famous Cj-press Point, 8 miles southwest of Pacific 

 Grove, the only locality where the picturesque Monterey cypress 

 grows wild in its natural habitat, this species of termite lives in 

 cypress stumps and old logs — only in the dry hard wood. 



At Monterey and Niles the writer found K. minor damaging white 

 cedar telephone poles ; it bores in the dry wood to a considerable height. 



At Los Gatos this termite lives in logs lying on the ground. 



At San Jose K. minor was found in the wood of California lam'el 

 ( Vmhellularia calif ornica) . 



In Arizona, K. oninor has been found at Nogales (Calabasis Canyon). 

 Nogales is on the Mexican border and this species probably occurs in 

 northern Mexico ; also at Tucson and Redington, Arizona. 



In the Santa Catalina Mountains, K. rninor has been found in 

 Sabino, Bear, and Edgar Canyons, in the latter being at an elevation 

 of 4,500 feet; also at Sycamore Springs. 



In Arizona it is closely associated with K. Tiuhbardi Banks, these 

 being the two common species in the region of the Arizona Highlands. 

 They infest dead cottonwood (sycamore), poplar, ash, walnut, and 

 Arizona cypress trees, logs, and branches, often completely riddling 

 the wood of the trunks of dead trees. George Hofer writes that the 

 heartwood of living trees is also attacked. A black ash tree (Fraxinus 

 velutina) was found in Sabino Canyon in the Santa Catalina Mountains 

 with the heartwood honeycombed by K. minor on November 24, 1916. 

 Hofer stated in his field notes that 70 per cent of the ash trees in this 

 locality are in the same condition, which renders the wood unfit for 

 commercial uses. This was probably due to the combined work of 

 K. minor and K. Jiubhardi Banks. 



On July 17, 1913, Morris Chrisman found a colony in a sycamore 

 log half buried in the soil and almost eaten up by the insects, in Bear 



