140 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



in most species of Kalotermes; hence the name simplicicornis. The 

 winged adult is as yet unknown. 



Genus NEOTERMES Holmgren. 



NEOTERMES CASTANEUS Burmeister. 



For taxonomy see pp. 32-35. 



This genus, so far as known, includes only one species in the 

 United States, namely, Neotermes castaneus Burmeister. 



This species, according to Burmeister, occurs in "Kalifornien (San 

 Francisco)" (probably an error, since not found there at present). 

 Hagen (1858) lists under "Vaterland," Kalifornien: Honduras and 

 Guatemala, Cuba, St. Domingo (Port aux Princes), Porto Rico, 

 Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil (and Isle de France — another 

 species, according to N. Banks). Hagen merely republishes Bur- 

 meister's error in giving the locality " Kalifornien." 



In Hawaii, Bryan (1915) states that this species is the common 

 termite found in the native forests. With the introduced species 

 (Kalotermes marginipennis Latreille), this termite is so far the only 

 representative of the family Termitidae found on the islands. This is 

 not true, since Coptotermes lacteus Froggatt ? occurs and is injurious 

 to woodwork of buildings at Honolulu, according to E. M. Ehrhorn 

 (1915) and later correspondence. 



Hubbard (1877) records castaneus from Jamaica. At a place 

 1,200 feet up in the hills, and consequently in a damp cool climate, on 

 a small densely wooded island in the Wagwater River, Hubbard 

 observed two or three small holes in the end of a small dead branch 

 (the broken butt of a branch on a living tree about 4 feet above the 

 ground), which was found to contain an incipient colony. The 

 insects were isolated in a few simple burrows at the end of this short 

 dead branch, the colony consisting of three or four sexual individuals 

 with no wings, one or two very large mandibulate soldiers, and about 

 a dozen nymphs. These insects were collected at Stony Hill, near 

 Kingston, on March 10, 1877. Doctor Hagen identified the species 

 as " Calotermes castaneus." 



Neotermes castaneus is found in the United States and has occurred 

 in Florida at least since 1887. Mr. Banks states that Florida's 

 tropical colonies are almost as old as Florida. E. A. Schvrarz col- 

 lected this species on May 23, 1887, at Cocoanut Grove. In Septem- 

 ber, 1900, the Rev. F. L. Odenbach, S. J., of Cleveland, Ohio, received 

 a colony of a "termite larger than jlavipes" from Indian River, 

 between the Narrows and Vero Post Office, which proves to be this 

 species. He still has the colony living, and the writer has seen a 

 soldier from it through the kindness of Father Odenbach. 



N. castaneus occurs in southern Florida on the mainland, on the 

 Upper Keys ^ or coral reefs and in the Lower Everglades, On the 



> L. E. Warner collected soldiers and nymphs at Key West, Florida, in April, 1919, in a sapodilla tree. 



