I02 The Termites, or White Ants 



workers resemble closely, except in size, the just-hatched young; the soldiers 

 have but to acquire their largeness of head and mandibles, and the perfect 

 insects their wings. But there is a serious complexity in termite develop- 

 ment in that at hatching all the young are alike, and the different castes 

 or kinds of individuals become differentiated during the postembryonic 

 development, i.e., after hatching. This matter is discussed later. 



In the United States but seven species of this order of insects are known. 

 They represent three genera, which may be distinguished by the following 

 table: 



Key to Genera. 



Simple eyes absent Termopsis. 



Simple eyes present. 



Tarsi with a pulvillus (little pad) between the claws; prothora.x large and 



oblong; costal (anterior) area of the wings veined. .Calotermes. 



Tarsi without terminal pulvillus; prothorax cordate; costal area of wings 



without veins Termes. 



Termopsis and Calotermes each include two species, all four limited 



to the Pacific Coast; while Termes includes three species, of which but one, 



T. flavipes, is found in the northeastern states. This has been introduced from 



America into Europe, and is well known there. The other two species, and 



flavipes also, are found in the southwestern and Pacific coast states. Thus 



Termes flavipes (Figs. 134 and 135) is the only representative of the order Isop- 



tera which can be observed and studied in the East, 



but it is so commonly distributed that the student of 



in.sects in almost any locality can find its communities. 



Desjjite its abundance, however, the long time it has 



been known, and the very interesting nature of its 



habits, its life-history is not yet wholly worked out. 



Fig. i-?4. — T. flavi- Jt makes its nest in or under old logs and stumps. 



pes, worker. (Af'.er „ . . . ■ 1 , , r r 



Marlatt; natural oometimes it mmes a nest in the beams and rafters of 



size indicated by old houses. Howard records the serious injuries done 



'"'^'' to a handsome private residence in Baltimore through 



the mining of the first-floor timbers by the hidden termites. Comstock 



has found them in the southern states infesting living plants, particularly 



orange-trees, guava-bushes, and sugar-cane. According to Comstock, they 



attack that part of the living plant which is at or just below the surface 



of the ground. In the case of pampas-grass the base of the stalk is 



hollowed; with woody plants, as orange-trees and guava-bushes, the bark 



of the base of the trunk is eaten, and frequently the tree is completely 



girdled; with sugar-cane the most serious injury is the destruction of the 



seed-cane. 



