36 



SCHOOL ENTOMOLOGY 



29. Isoptera. The Termites or White ants (Fig. 21, 6) 

 form this order. They live in the central and southern 

 parts of the United States but are more at home in the 



tropics, where there are many spe- 

 cies. Only one or two species are 

 found in this country. They are 

 not ants, nor are they structurally 

 related to them, but get their 

 common name from a certain su- 

 perficial resemblance in form and 

 from their habits. Colonies may 

 be found in dead and decaying 

 trees and in stumps, fence posts 

 and logs. They attack growing 

 plants at times and are often in- 

 jurious, especially to apple seedlings. 

 Termites frequently eat into the 

 foundations and at times go on up 

 into the superstructures of houses 

 where they mine and do great 

 damage. They are wingless during 

 the greater part of the year and 

 are of a dead white color, except 

 their jaws and a part of their heads. 

 There are different classes of indi- 

 viduals, males and females, work- 

 ers and soldiers, in the colony. 

 The true males and females, or 



kings and queens, appear in the spring. They are dark 

 colored and fly from the nest in great swarms, mating 

 and forming new colonies. They have at first, four 

 long, narrow and delicate wings, poorly attached to 

 the bodies. After the flight the wings fall off or are 



FIG. 22. Work of Ter- 

 mites in Root of Cherry 

 Seedling, 



