90 Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science. 
or into its contents a great distance so that the limits of a colony are hard 
to define. It is therefore apparent that termite injury to buildings and 
their contents is intimately correlated with the construction of such build- 
ings. This is borne out by the fact that new buildings as well as old oe 
are subject to attack. As has been said before, the swarming of termites 
in a building should be regarded as a danger signal though it is not an in- 
fallible one, because a building or its contents may be infested and no 
swarming occur, in which case the hidden work of the insects might escape 
notice until irreparable injury is done. Some examples of the damage 
done to buildings in Indianapolis and a fuller discussion of the damage 
done at the Columbus Public Library well illustrates certain things that 
should be avoided in the construction of buildings. 
The popular cement floor of porches, unless properly constructed, offers 
a means through which termites may gain entrance to the frame work and 
weatherboarding of houses. The grout of cinders and gravel are often: 
placed flush against a wooden beam and the cement is brought flush with 
the weatherboarding. Usually in time there is a decided crack between 
the cement and the wood, allowing water to enter when the porch is 
scrubbed or during heavy rains. The cinders and gravel grout are no 
repellant to the termites as there are usually sufficient holes in the latter 
through which the termites can work and thus gain entrance to the wood. 
Three such cases of injury have been observed during the past season. 
In the case of the factory building where swarming occurred on March 
5th it was found that the floor of the office was laid directly on a bed of 
cinders and the wooden walls which separated the office from the rest of 
the building were flush with these cinders. Likewise, the 12x12 untreated 
yellow pine pillars which supported the roof were set on stones one foot 
yeneath the surface of the ground. Three years previously the floor had 
been removed because of termite damage and replaced with another wooden 
floor. It is needless to say that the conditions for termite injury were ideal. 
Not only the floor but the walls and a number of the pillars were badly 
damaged. 
In a dwelling in the northern part of Indianapolis termites had gained 
entrance to a “built-in ice box”, the wood of which was constantly moist 
and from this source had riddled several of the beams supporting the 
house. At another place where the weather boarding of the kitchen was 
flush with the ground this was badly damaged. 
At the Columbus Public Library termites did the worst and most extensive 
damage that has so far been recorded for these insects in Indiana. Three 
hundred volumes of books were so badly riddled that they were a mere 
shell. The wooden racks in which they were kept were badly damaged 
and all baseboards, door casings and moldings on the first floor of this 
building were more or less infested making their removal necessary. Even 
pictures in contact with the molding were ruined. This building is of lime- 
stone, two stories high, and is what is commonly known as “fire proof” in 
its construction. It sets on an embankment about three feet high and is so 
built that the floor of the first story is slightly below the level of the em- 
bankment (See Diagrammatic Cross-section of Building, Figure I, <A.) 
