White Ant Notes. 40^ 



wliitu ;ij)l. (Ui nijij^c (<i li\ in<:;' (rrcs is (raceiiblc io niciubers ul' the ^M'oup 

 (il l*'uugus Gruwcis;. 



The Grasdraers mv too fuiiiiliui", wlieie Ihey exist, to (^ail iov 

 any d(^S(.Tiiilioii. a)id a,ll that one neods to say is that^ althoug'li these 

 wJiitc aiiis may eolleet wiud-Llown trayinents of diiiiy, Ihej- never 

 lurii their attention to woodwork. 



As regards tlie C'arton Nest Makers, tliese are wliite auts with 

 \\lii(di very few are acquainted, and aithong'h they are spread over 

 t]ie length and breadth of the Union, it is ]iot often they do any 

 mischief. Their nests are really small hives of a somewhat black and 

 cardboard-like material set in the surface of the soil and seldom pro- 

 trudiii<^' above it. The hives, for the most part, vary in size from that 

 of llie eg'u- of a goose to (hat of an ostrich, and the work(Ms stand apart 

 Irom those ordinarily met with on account of their pale white heads 

 and sh'iider bodit's. Tiieii- attack' upon transplants is quite charac- 

 teristic, seeing' that they do not g'naw away the surface, but burrow 

 or channel in the tap-root and stem. 



There are, at least, twelve different kinds of Fungus Growers, 

 and all have their homes in subterranean cavities wherein fungus 

 gardens are cultivated to provide suitable food for the developing' 

 young. As far as the nature of the nests of these is concerned, they 

 may be divided into two sections. First con)e those making a large 

 cavity within the conhnes of which the lireeding couple (the king and 

 (lueen) are imprisoned in a cell of clay and closely associated with 

 a large amount of fungus garden. Second are those whose nests 

 consist of a taagle of fine tubes in the soil, none of which has a 

 diameter regularly greater than that of a piece of coarse string. There 

 is no large central cavity, such being replaced by numerous small 

 cells, each having its own connecting gallery with the general system. 

 In each cell a small garden is cultivated. Few of these gardens are 

 laiger than a hen's egg, and most are no bigger than the kernel of a 

 walnut, to which they bear some structural resemblance. As a rule 

 the nests of the formei can be located and treated, but one can do 

 neither successfully with the nests of the latter. 



('(Uicerning the attack of white ants upon live trees, frequent 

 though it be, we may say it is not a normal matter. These insects 

 do not make a practice of feeding upon live roots or stems, as is com- 

 monly supposed ; and, ordinarily, their attack upon grown trees is 

 never serious, being limited to dead parts of the bark, to decayed 

 interiors, and to dead limbs. 



The natural provender of our white ants, excepting those insig- 

 nificant kinds sustaining themselves on the humus of the soil, is 

 pi-e-eminently dead grass; nearly all, however, evince a great 

 partiality for the droppings of animals, especially when in pellet 

 form, and for dead wood when such is obtainable. 



White ants may be said to turn their attention to the live parts 

 of plants only when circumstances compel them to do so. Their 

 attack upon orchard trees or forestal transplants is, as a rule, due to 

 a radical disturbance of the surface conditions of their natural 

 habitat, accompanied by the removal of all their normal food supplies. 

 There is nothing vicious in the onsets that follow even when, as in 

 the Transvaal bushveld, fruit trees are damaged over a pei-iod of 

 years as against the more common killing of trees recently, or more 

 or less recently, set out. 



