142 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



Florida, C. infumatus Banks of Texas and C. hrevis Walker of Cuba 

 and Mexico, which occurs at Key West, Florida. 



CRYPTOTERMES CAVIFRONS Banks. 



For taxonomy see pp. 35-38. 



C. cavifrons was described by Banks (1906) from specimens found 

 in rotten wood at Kissimmee, Osceola County, Florida. It has as 

 yet only been found in Florida, and it is not probable that this species 

 occurs further north. Haw Creek, in St. John County, is as far north 

 as it has been found. 



In southern Florida, both on the mainland and on the offshore 

 keys, Cryptotermes cavifrons has been found in the more or less solid 

 portion of decaying logs. It has been collected at Orlando; Kissim- 

 mee; Haw Creek, and Indian Kiver (Hubbard) ; Palm Beach; Cocoanut 

 Grove (Brickell Hammock) (Snyder); Paradise Key (Royal Palm 

 Hammock) (Snyder), Long Key (Snyder), (both the latter localities 

 being in the Lower Everglades), and Adam Key, a coral reef (Snyder). 



H. G. Hubbard collected this species along the Indian River, near 

 the Sebastian River, either on Mangrove Island or at St. Sebastian, 

 as early as April 6, 1880. He thought the specimens collected at 

 Haw Creek, Florida, to be " Termopsis n. sp." They were found in 

 a dead palmetto "June,? 1894," and "included winged adults 

 acquiring pigmentation." Hubbard later labeled these or other 

 soldiers and immature winged adults "22. 6, Haw Creek, nov. genus 

 near Termopsis n. sp." 



Three first form young parent adults and young of this species 

 were found in an incipient colony in the solid wood of a pecan hickory 

 log sent from Orlando, Florida, on February 19, 1914, by J. B. Gill. 

 The log was infested by Bostrichid beetles, through whose exit holes 

 the termites had entered the wood. 



At Palm Beach, on May 4, 1915, W. D. Freeman found specimens 

 of termites, n}miphs, and colonizing adults infesting a pine porch 

 sill of a building. The insects were just acquiring wings and attaining 

 their mature pigmentation. These termites are Cryptotermes cavifrons. 



At Adam Key, an offshore key or coral reef approximately opposite 

 Homestead, Florida, in Dade County, winged, maturely pigmented 

 colonizing adults ready to swarm, were abundant in a colony that the 

 writer found on May 15, 1916. Soldiers were very rare, but young 

 nymphs were abundant in this colony, which was in the solid wood 

 of a small red mangrove (RTiizophora mangle) branch on the ground 

 at the edge of a mangrove swamp. This swamp was near the shore. 

 The ground consisted of white coral formation with very little soil 

 covering and vegetation. Many trees had been cut down to provide 

 a clearing for a fishing camp, "Coccoloba Kay" Club. 



In March, 1917, the writer found colonies of Cryptotermes cavifrons 

 abundant in dead trees and logs at Adam Key. On March 21 a 



