NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



713 



ets, beetles, moths and butterflies are 

 both abundant and varied. Perhaps the 

 most conspicuous forms are the ants and 

 termites. Ants of many sorts seem 

 omnipresent. They and the termites 

 are the chief scavengers of the tropics. 

 The ants gather up all waste food around 

 the houses, carry away dead insects, 

 and frequently remove planted seeds 

 from the seedbeds. It is necessary to 

 protect all food and nursery beds from 

 these pests. There are also many sorts 

 of termites, and they are such efficient 

 wood destroyers that one seldom sees 

 dead trees either standing or fallen in 

 the forest, they are so promptly con- 

 sumed by the termites. A common 

 mound-building termite is Termes phi- 

 lippinensis Oshima. This insect is 

 wood-destroying, and builds large clay 

 mounds, filled with tunnels made of a 

 sort of papier macho". These tunnels 

 are damp and on them grows a fungus 

 mycelium, of a species not found any- 

 where else except on termite mounds. 

 The young termites appear to feed on 

 the little white buttons produced by 

 this fungus, and it is thought by some 

 that the fungus is planted and cared 

 for by the termites. At all events, 

 the fungus is found on all of the nests 

 of this species of termite. The caste 

 system is possibly even better developed 

 among the termites than among the 

 ants, there frequently being among the 

 soldiers alone two distinct forms. The 

 winged adult males and females migrate 

 in large swarms at the beginning of 

 the rainy season, in May, such flights 

 often starting at about seven in the 

 evening and continuing for an hour or 

 more, often interrupting the dinner 

 hour by completely covering table and 

 food with a writhing mass of insects 

 shedding their long wings. Associated 

 with the termites in their mounds are 

 frequently several other insects: a red 

 ant, Solenopsis geminata Fabr., which 

 is destructive to the termites, and 

 several species of beetles or earwigs, 

 cockroaches, springtails and myriopods, 

 which serve as scavengers to the ter- 



mites. They avoid the light, traveling 

 in tunnels inside timbers or in earthern 

 tunnels built over the surface of bark, 

 rocks, etc. 2 This is but one of several 

 species of termites in the Philippines, 

 as the order Isoptera is highly developed 

 there. At least forty species have been 

 reported from the Islands, and Los 

 Banos is the type locality of five of 

 these. These are in addition to the 

 above mentioned form, Termes Cope- 

 landi Oshima, one of the common earth 

 mound building forms, its mounds being 

 low and broad; Eutermes luzonicus 

 Oshima; Microtermes los-banosensis 

 Oshima, which builds hard nests at the 

 bases of trees, bamboos, etc., and ex- 

 tends earthern tunnels over them; and 

 Coptotermes flavicephalus . All of these 

 appear to require contact with the earth 

 to secure sufficient moisture, and may 

 be kept out of houses by careful guarding 

 of the foundations. The situation is 

 quite different with the small, beetle- 

 like bucbuc, which are classed by Light 3 

 as "House termites," and placed in 

 the genera Cryptotermes and Piano- 

 cry ptotermes. These work in cured 

 timber and bamboo, without any con- 

 nection with the ground. One species 

 of termite, Leucotermes philippinensis, 

 has been reported as attacking sugar 

 cane plants as well as wood. 



Another group of insects of interest 

 are the fig-pollinating insects, Blasto- 

 phagus, of which there appears to be a 

 distinct species of insect for each of the 

 seventy or more species of Ficus found 

 wild on Mount Makiling. Probably 

 more extensive and complete collections 

 of insects have been made on and around 

 Mount Makiling than in any other 

 similar area in the tropics. This has 

 been due largely to the activities of 

 Dean C. F. Baker and the students of 

 the Philippine College of Agriculture. 

 Vast numbers of new species of tropical 

 insects have been described from Baker's 



* See Uichanco, Leopoldo. General facts in the 

 biology of Philippine mound building termites. 

 Phil. Jour. Sci., 15: 59. 



'Light, S. F. Notes on Philippine Termites. 

 Phil. Jour. Sci., 19: p. 41 (1921). 



