284 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 6 



authors have recorded this insect as feeding upon several species of Medicago as 

 well as Trifolium incarnatum in addition to red clover. 



The known distribution as given by Titus (Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 4:440-41) shows 

 that this European species has established itself pretty well over New England 

 and also in the Hudson valley. It would seem from our observations that the cus- 

 tomary early cutting of clover for hay will ordinarily prevent serious injury though 

 this would not apply to sections where clover seed is generally produced. We 

 have, in this species, a recent introduction which will bear watching and may, like 

 its forerunner and ally, the much larger, punctured clover leaf weevil, Hypera 

 punctata Fabr., cause considerable apprehension if not serious injury. 



E. P. Felt. 



White ants, historical. It may be of some interest to Boston readers to know 

 that on November 15, 1883, twenty-nine years ago, the Boston Evening Transcript 

 devoted two and one-half columns to an invasion of the State House by White Ants. 

 Quoting from the article: "Now that election is over and the people have had time 

 to shift their thoughts from the governor and his campaign, it would be improper to 

 further delay speaking of the new danger which threatens the Capitol of the Com- 

 monwealth. The enemy which has effected a lodgement under the gilded dome is 

 small but mighty and his name is legion. He works in the dark and unceasingly. 

 He would undermine our halls of legislation and offices of state. He is the Guy 

 Fawkes whose plotting is perennial, the blowing up of whose mine is ever imminent. 

 He is at this moment perhaps making ready for the grand overthrow and demolition 

 of the crowning glory of Beacon Hill. His point of attack is at the foundations, and 

 his name is Termes Jlavipes or in vulgar parlance, the white ant." 



The room in which they first appeared was in the center of the building and it 

 was feared that if their progress was not checked, the wooden girders might be 

 attacked and result in bringing down the whole structure. If this did not happen, 

 there would at least be some danger to life and limb if the stair supports became 

 infested. In 1882 a document stored in what was then known as the "Dungeon" 

 in the basement of the State House was found to have been eaten in a rather odd 

 manner and Mr. Pierce, then Secretary of State, sent a sample to Doctor Hagen, 

 who at once pronounced it as the work of "white ants." The papers were taken 

 out and sprinkled with insect powder and the contents of the room put in bags and 

 subjected to fumigation with sulphur. 



According to the article. Doctor Hagen advised a thorough examination 

 by a competent and conscientious engineer. The shelves of the room where they 

 were found were to be taken out together with the plastering and the woodwork 

 beneath thoroughly inspected. Particular pains were to be taken to find out if the 

 insects had gone up or down stairs. Inasmuch as their presence was suspected in 

 other parts of the building, the expenditure of $1,000 was advised for an examination 

 which might save ten thousand dollars some years later. Doctor Hagen also thought 

 that a standing item for this work should be included in the annual appropriation 

 bill so that the public would be constantly reminded of the danger threatening their 

 Capitol and its contents. The nest of the ants was supposed to be in the Common or 

 Public Garden or in an old tree in the vicinity. 



Doctor Hagen then called attention to a wooden bridge at Porters Station, which 

 was injured by "white ants" and to an ashpit in the works of Alvan Clark & Sons 

 (makers of astronomical instruments) at Cambridgeport, the posts of which, becom- 

 ing honeycombed with ant chambers, collapsed some time in 1876. The bridge at 

 Porters Station was supposed to have been selected by the ants on account of its 



