The third species, Termes flavipes, a common North American form, 

 has been found in the woodwork of the Bath House of Schoenbrun at 

 Vienna, and was probably accidently introduced in timber from its native 

 land. 



The termites found in Africa have always attracted the notice of 

 travellers, and Smeathman's account of the large mound-building white 

 ant, Termes hellicosus, published as far back as 1781, entitled "On the 

 Termites of Africa and other hot countries," contained the first authentic 

 description of the internal structure of a termitarium, or white ants' nest. 

 The notes and figures that he furnished have appeared in nearly all the 

 popular works on Natural History up to the present time. This species 

 ranges right round tlie coast of Africa. In Hagen's list, twenty species 

 were recorded from Africa; but since its publication, Messrs. Haviland, 

 Sharp, and others have added many new species, and Dr. Sjostedt, in liis 

 " Monograph of the African Termitida?, 1900," brings the number up to 

 seventy-seven species from the mainland, seven peculiar to Madagascar, 

 and two in Mauritius. 



Though most of the larger mound-making species seem to be more or less 

 confined to the coast (as they are in Australia), as might be expected, as 

 we approach the Equator the more numerous and destructive the species 

 become. Nearly every explorer has had something to say about white ants 

 in Africa. Paul Du Chaillu, the famous gorilla hunter, gives a general 

 account of their nests and habits on the west coast in liis book, " My 

 Apingi Kingdom." Frank Gates, in his " Matabele Falls," notices them 

 in tliat country, and figures one of the larger nests. Professor Druinmond 

 is sometimes quoted as an authority on white ants, because, in liis 

 " Tropical Africa," there is a chapter devoted to these insects; but there 

 is nothing new in this, except the theory he originates that white ants take 

 the place of earthworms in the tropics and improve the soil in the same 

 manner; but tliis is open to much doubt. 



The accidental infestation of the rock-I)ound isolated island of St. 

 Helena is an interesting instance of the destructive powers of an introduced 

 pest, and tlie way in which they can increase and multiply under altered 

 or improved conditions. In the year 1840, a captured slaver was brought 

 into the port of Jamestown, where it was condemned, dismantled, and the 

 timbers landed in the town; these proved to be infested with a South 

 American white ant {Eutermes tenuis) common in Brazil. These termites, 

 escaping from the timber, became so destructive that several Koyal Com- 

 missions were appointed to consider the best methods of dealing with them. 

 Melliss, in his work on St. Helena, states that it was estimated that 

 £60,000 of damage had been done by this introduced pest. 



Little or nothing seems to be known about white ants in the northern 

 or central portion of Asia; but in Crichton's "History of Arabia" they are 

 said to be very destructive to young trees, which the Arabs protect by 

 coating the bark with sheep dung. Two species are described by Hagen 

 from Schiraz on the Persian Gulf, but beyond this I find no reference till 



