14 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO FORESTS. 
the woodwork of buildings is occasionally serious. As far north as 
Boston, Mass., damage of this sort occurs, and in Michigan cases are 
reported in which furniture in buildings has sunk through the floors, 
mined by ‘white ants.” 
The preventives and remedies against injury to forest products 
and nursery stock herein given are based on the results of experi- 
ments conducted by the Bureau of Entomology. The species to be 
considered in this paper are Leucotermes flavipes Kollar and Leuco- 
termes virginicus Banks. The former is widely distributed “ over 
the United States, but the recorded distribution of the latter is more 
limited. ® 
CLASSIFICATION. 
Termites are naturally to be classed among that most interesting 
group of social insects comprising the ants, bees, wasps, etc., since 
they live in colonies which are made up of various highly specialized 
forms or castes. Each of these forms has a distinct réle in the proc- 
esses of the social organization, as there is a well-defined division of 
labor. In the systematic classification of insects, however, termites 
are widely separated from the other social insects. These latter rep- 
resent the highest and most specialized development, whereas termites 
represent the lowest and are among the oldest of insects. Further- 
more, in many points in their life habits termites are widely different 
from the other social insects. 
The tropical genus Termes, from which the family and generic 
names of termites are derived, is a Linnean creation ° and appears 
for the first time in 1758, in the tenth edition of Systema Nature, 
where it was placed among the Aptera, between the genera Podura 
and Pediculus. Since then termites have been classed 4? among the 
orders Neuroptera, Corrodentia, and Pseudoneuroptera, although 
Brullé, in 1832 (Expéd. Sc. Morée, t.3 (Zool.), p. 66, Paris, 1832), had 
founded the distinct new order Isoptera.¢ Packard,/ in 1863, stated 
that ‘‘seven out of the eight well-established families of the Neuroptera 
sustain a synthetic relation with each of the six other suborders.”’ 
Hagen,?in 1868, stated in regard to the error that he made in describ- 

@ Marlatt, C. L. The White Ant (Zermes flavipes Koll.). U.S. Dept. Agr., Bur. 
Ent., Cire. 50, pp. 8, figs. 4, June 30, 1902. See p. 4. 
b Banks, N. A new species of Termes. Ent. News., v. 18, no. 9, p. 392-393, No- 
vember, 1907. 
¢ Desneux, J. Isoptera, Fam. Termitide, pp. 52, figs. 10, pls. 2. (Wytsman, P., 
Genera Insectorum, fase. 25, Bruxelles, 1904, p. 1-3.) 
d Veytaud, J. Contribution & l’étude du termite lucifuge. Arch. Anat. Mieros., 
t. 13, fase. 4, p. 481-606, figs. 34, 30 juin, 1912. 
€ Desneux, J. Loc. cit. 
f Packard, A. S. On synthetic types in insects. Boston Jour. Nat. Hist., v. 7, 
no. 4, p. 590-603, fig. 4, June, 1863. 
g Hagen, H. A. Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., v. 12, p. 139, October 21, 1868, 
soston, 1869. 
