once useful feature in the economy of this insect, now no longer, or 

 rarely, of service. 



The normal method of the formation of new colonies is probabl}' 

 by the mere division or splitting up of old ones — their galleries 

 and branch colonies extending great distances from the home 

 colony — or the carrying of infested logs or timbers from one point 

 to another. 



The development of these curious insects is very simple. Thei-e 

 is scarcely any metamorphosis, the change from the young larva to 

 the adult being very gradual and without any marked difference in 

 structure. They feed on decaying wood or vegetable material of 

 any sort, and are able to carry their excavations into any timbers 

 which are moistened, or into furniture, books, or papers stored in 

 rooms which are at all moist. Their food is the finely divided 

 material into which they bore, and from which they seem to be able 

 to extract a certain amount of nourishment, probably from the 

 moulds and ferments generated in the moistened vegetable material, 

 since they redevour the same material several times. Bearing out 

 this theory, tropical species are known to grow great mushroom beds 

 artificially on the product of which they largelj^ subsist. The white 

 ants are also somewhat cannibalistic, and will devour the superflu- 

 ous members of the colony without compunction, and normallj' con- 

 sume all dead individuals, cast skins, and other refuse material. 

 They are capable also of exuding a sort of nectar, which is used to 

 feed the young and the royal pair, and which the,y also generously 

 give to each other. 



All except the migrating winged forms are incapable of enduring 

 full sunlight, and the soft, delicate bodies of the workers, soldiers 

 and young rapidly shrivel when exposed. In all their operations, 

 therefore, they carefully conceal themselves, and in their mining of 

 timbers or books and papers the surface is always left intact, and 

 whenever it is necessary for them to extend their colonies it is done 

 only under the protection of covered runways, which they construct 

 of particles of comminuted wood or little pellets of excrement. In 

 this way the damage which they are doing is often entirely hidden, 

 and not until furniture breaks down or the underpinning and timbers 

 of houses or floors yield is the injury recognized. The swarming of 

 winged individuals in the early summer, if in or about houses, is an 

 indication of their injurious presence and warrants an immediate 

 investigation to prevent serious damage later on. 



The common termite of America is very widespread, occurring 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada southward to the 

 Gulf. It has been found on the mountains of Colorado and Wash- 

 ington at a height of over 7,000 feet. In prairie regions it may often 

 be seen during the swarming season issuing from the ground at fre- 



