SOME TROUBLESOME INVADERS 373 



It is said that white ants are responsible for a good deal 

 of injury to potatoes growing in soil rich in vegetable 

 matter or in new land containing decaying roots, stumps, 

 and branches. The injuries consist of irregular pits bored 

 into the potatoes or of much larger and irregular excava- 

 tions extending into the flesh of the tubers to the depth of 

 a fourth of an inch or even more. In the particular in- 

 stance in which this injury was definitely traced to the 

 termites, the potatoes were growing in soil recently cleared 

 of an old apple orchard. 



Methods of control. — It must be borne in mind that 

 these pests live permanently in dead wood only and that 

 if the colony can be located and the vegetable material 

 in which it lives destroyed, the trouble will cease. In the 

 case of the injury to pecan seedlings, the trouble ceased 

 as soon as all roots, stumps, and other decaying debris 

 had been removed from the field. Again, our species 

 selects moist situations and attacks books and papers 

 stored in moist, damp basements. Therefore, if we would 

 protect books from these pests, we should store them in 

 light, dry rooms. 



Basement floors and all underground parts of buildings, 

 at least in the tropics, should be made of cement, brick, 

 or stonework. Rooms containing books and papers 

 infested with termites may be fumigated with hydro- 

 cyanic acid gas as already outlined in Chapter XVII. 

 In this case, however, care should be taken to scatter 

 the books and papers about more or less so that the 

 gas will have free access to the insects and their mines. 



Termites may be fought somewhat like the true ants. 

 x\n effort should be made to locate the nest and then it 

 should be destroyed if possible. There is nothing to be 



