180 BULLETIN 108, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



characteristic habits is to cover the stems and roots of vegetation 

 with tubes of small diameter constructed of earth and excrement. 

 Apparently it does not ever bore into wood. Schwarz found workers 

 injuring grass at Beeville, Texas as early as November 10, 1895. 



D. C. Parman made the following notes on termite injury to forage 

 and food plants at Uvalde, Texas, in 1917. 



The common species of termite (Amitermes tubiformans) has been very abundant in 

 this section this season and much damage has been done to range and forage plants 

 and in some instances to gardens. The first injury noticed was in a garden, which 

 had been heavily manured the year before, about August 10; the termites had been 

 at work previous to this date, but after a heavy irrigation dirt tunnels were piled at 

 the base of tomato, corn, and squash plants, and on the fruit of the squash and in some 

 instances the squash fruit was broken into at the blossom end. The plants attacked 

 were weakened and sickly and about 25 per cent died. On August 11, 1917, the first 

 piling up of earth on plants was observed at Uvalde, although the garden has been 

 irrigated the entire season. The weather has been dry and hot practically all summer. 

 (There had been a 5-inch rain June 24, night, and on June 28 another light rain.) 

 By the first of September at least 75 per cent of the entire plantings of the garden 

 were injm'ed, and some of all of the plants died, including 28 different vegetables. 

 The older and tougher plants were preferred. The larger roots were eaten off, which 

 caused a mass of small roots to start which could not support the plants. 



During the latter part of August several pastures were observed to have large areas 

 in which practically all of the grass and weeds were killed, and in places practically 

 all of the low dead vegetation had been covered with dirt. 



Sorghum fields were examined where as high as 50 per cent of all the plants had 

 been attacked and small areas would be entirely killed. On October 20, a field 

 (500 acres) of oats (volunteer) four miles north of Knippa, Texas, was examined in 

 which about CO per cent were dead; the dead spots were practically alive with the 

 white ants and they were at some places found under apparently healthy plants. 

 Other fields were found to be damaged more or less but the greatest damage was in 

 fields of volunteer oats or where there was considerable stubble. Since this date 

 fields have been examined near Uvalde and the termites were always present and 

 doing some damage by eating the sprouted grain or young plants. On examination 

 after a period of two cold days with a minimum temperature of 26 at the laboratory 

 the termites are not found in nearby fields under plants showing evidence of the work; 

 only shallow examinations (8 inches) were made (Oct. 31). 



The termite is always most abundant in trashy lands and in the sorghum lands. 

 Control would probably be at least partially effected if all oat stubble fields were well 

 turned and old sorghum stubble plowed during the fall and winter. It is apparently 

 a bad practice to disk fields of oat stubble in an attempt to get a stand of volunteer 

 oats, as they generally serve as a breeding ground for insects, especially the fall army 

 worm. 



The damage by the termite has probably been more noticeable this season on ac- 

 count of the extreme drought, but it is quite probable that crops are damaged more 

 or less every season, as the piling of earth on plants, generally dead, has been noticed. 



Note. — The determination was made by Mr. T. E. Snyder from specimens taken 

 from a garden (in June (?), 1917); no specimens were taken from fields. 



J. D. Mitchell observed this species constructing earthen-hke tubes 

 and in and under dry cow chips and in the ground, in the prairie near 

 Victoria, Texas, on September 25, 1917. They were very numerous 

 and were covering vegetation with "thin earth mortar" (pi. 33, 



