December, '21] snyder: wtiite-ant-proof wood 501 



The last named chemicals would be suitable treatments for cheap 

 perishable woods to be used as the core, over which ant-proof veneers 

 could be glued. 



Chemical Treatments of Wood Pulp Products 



In case of ply or laminated wall "boards" made of wood pulp, these 

 boards may be made highly resistant to attack by white ants by adding 

 poisons during the process of manufacture, v'^uch poisons include so- 

 lutions of bichlorid of mercury, carbolic acid, etc. Coal-tar creosote 

 can be added where the brown stain and odor which are imparted to 

 the board are not objectionable. 



While white ants of the Tropics are more mmierous and, as a rule, 

 more destructive than those native to the United States, it is evident 

 that if treated or untreated woods are resistant to attack by our native 

 white ants {Reticulitermes spp.) after a severe five-year test in the ground, 

 they will not readily be attacked when above ground by white ants 

 of the Tropics; especially since our native white ants {Reticulitermes 

 spp.) wherever they occur throughout the world are among the most 

 destructive species to wood. 



Opisthuria clandestina var. dorsalis Knight Injurious to Legiunes. — In July of 1919 

 Mr. W. C. Abbott of the Extension Division of the Louisiana State University brought 

 to the writer adults of a species of the heteropterous family Miridae, together with 

 nymphs that appeared to belong to the same species, stating that they were taken 

 from cowpeas, which they appeared to be injuring near Baton Rouge, La. No 

 other observations concerning the habits of the species came to our attention until 

 July 26, 1921, when adults and nymphs were found to be numerous on pole beans on a 

 farm near Baton Rouge by Mr. W. G. Bradley, Assistant Entomologist of the Louisi- 

 ana Experiment Stations. The upper surfaces of the leaves of these beans showed 

 small white spots, often so numerous and close together as to give the surface a whit- 

 ened appearance, similar to that caused by certain species of mites and thrips in their 

 feeding on leaf tissue. The undersides of the leaves showed no signs of injury. The 

 damage was so severe that the farmer had attempted to control the insect. Nymphs 

 that were collected were carried through to the adult stage in confinement on bean 

 leaves on which they caused the same type of injury as noted in the field. 



A few adults and nymphs were also noted on soy beans on the Experiment Station 

 farm at Baton Rouge during 1921. 



vSpecimcns collected from beans by Mr. Bradley have been referred to Dr. H. H. 

 Knight of The University of Minnesota and determined by him as Opisthuria clandes- 

 tina var. dorsalis Knight. 



Thos. H. Jones, Louisiana Experiment Stations 



