SB 

 818 

 C578 

 ENT 



No. 50, Second scries. 



nited States Department of Agriculture, 



DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, 



L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist. 



THE WHITE ANT 



( Termes flavipes Koll. ) . 



By C. L. Marlatt, 



Firat Assistant Entomologist. 



[Revised reprint from Bulletin No. 4, New Series, Division of Entomology, U. S. Department of 



Agriculture, pp. 70-T(>.] 



No insect occurring in houses is capable of doing greater damage 

 than the one under consideration. Its injuries are often hidden and 

 concealed until the damage is beyond repair, and as it affects the 



Fig. \.— Termen jlavipcn: a, adult male; /(, terminal abdominal segments of same from below; 

 c, same of female; d, male, side view, somewhat inflated by treatment with ammonia; 

 f, abdomen of female, side view; /, tarsus, showing joints and claw; «, d, e, enlarged; '), c, /, 

 greatly enlarged (original). 



integrity of the building itself as well as its contents, the importance 

 of the insect becomes very evident. Fortunately it is not often 

 present in the North in houses, but as the Tropics are approached 

 the injuries from it in dwellings or other structures of wood are of 

 common experience and often of the most serious nature, causing 

 the sudden crumbling of bridges, wharves, and settling of floors or 

 buildings. 



The term "white ant," by which this insect is universally known, 

 is entirely inappropriate in so far as it indicates any relationship with 

 the true ants. Strictly speaking, the white ant is not an ant, but 

 belongs with the Neuroptera and is allied to the dragon flies and 

 May flies. The only analogy with ants is in superficial resemblance 



