504 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 64 



POTENTIAL CONTROLS 

 ATTRACTANTS 



In the early 19G0's Dr. G. K. Esenther, entomologist stationed at 

 the Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis., and a group at the 

 University of Wisconsin published a paper on a termite attractant 

 (Esenther et al., 1961). It was discovered that the subterranean 

 termite Reticuliteriiies flavipes will follow a concentration gradient 

 of an attractive material, a culture of the brown rot fungus {Lenzites 

 trdbea) on pine to find decaying wood. It was believed that such 

 a potent termite attractant might be useful in termite surveys and 

 control. 



Esenther and Dr. H. C. Coppel of the University of Wisconsin 

 m 1964 published on results on laboratory experiments continued 

 in the laboratory at Madison, Wis., with the response of Reticuli- 

 terms flavipes to attractants from extractives and synthetics especially 

 to extracts from white pine infected with the brown rot fungus 

 Lenzites trdbea. Periodically for as long as several weeks the termite 

 would not respond to any attractant ; the cause remained unexplained. 



Receptors appear to be terminal antennal segments and hind tarsi. 

 The reproductive caste gave the most positive response. Specific 

 differences, between termite species and specific wood-decaying fungi, 

 are being studied. 



Field studies indicate that sterilized L. trdbea infected wood is the 

 best field attractant. A modified attractant insecticide unit was used : 

 A sandwich of five corrugated fiberboard pieces in which the center 

 and two outermost pieces were not treated with insecticides. The 

 second and fourth pieces were dipped in either 1 percent chlordane 

 or dieldrin solutions, or a massive dose of dieldrin was applied to a 

 sandwich unit by shaking only the central piece in a plastic bag that 

 contained Y5 percent wettable powder. The last method caused the 

 greatest mortality. Decayed wood contains both an orientating and 

 feeding stimulus; synthetic attractants show poorer results because 

 they may be orientative attractants only. 



Apparently, attractants' usefulness in economic control work is 

 not yet proven. 



FUNGI 



In \h<6 early 1960's Dr. A. E. Lund of the Koppers Co., Verona, Pa., 

 obtained conclusive evidence in the laboratory that certain species of 

 our subterranean termites {Reticulitermes) initiate attack on the wood 

 of southern yellow pine without previous infection of the wood by 

 wood- destroying fungi. Further laboratory studies (Lund, 1962, 

 1963) proved that there was an influence on eastern subterranean 

 termites by wood- destroying fungi. 



