PSYCHE 



VOL. XXV OCTOBER. 1918 No. 5 



A EUROPEAN TERMITE RETICULOTERMES LUCI- 

 FUGUS ROSSI IN THE VICINITY OF BOSTON. 



By Robert James Dobson. 

 Bussey Institution, Harvard University. 



In early May of the present year (1918) I was collecting termites 

 in the vicinity of Boston in order to carry out some experiments at 

 the Bussey Institution. Only one species of termites has been 

 known to occur in this part of the country north of New Jersey, 

 viz., Reticulotermes flavipes Kollar. I was surprised therefore 

 during these collecting trips to find a few colonies of R. lucifugus, 

 one of the common European termites of the Mediterranean 

 region. This species has not been found in North America before, 

 though at least two of our Western species have been confused 

 with it. One of these occurs in California and another in Texas 

 and also in Kansas. 



There are not yet sufficient data on which to base a theory of its 

 occurrence here. It wouM be less remarkable had it been found 

 further south where the climate difl^ers less from that of its home 

 in Southern Europe. The fact that it has not appeared in earlier 

 collections would indicate that it is not widely distributed, and it 

 is entirely possible that it has been accidentally introduced from 

 Europe. Kellogg^ records an instance of scores of termites of this 

 species being found in the boards of some packing cases received 

 at Stanford University from Germany. 



The size of the colonies I have found, and the fact that one of 

 them at least was headed by a large queen give evidence that they 

 have been here for some years. On a wooded hillside in the out- 

 skirts of Boston where I found what appear to be several distinct 

 colonies of R. lucifugus the species occurs side by side with R. 

 flavipes and in approximately the same abundance. I have found 

 the galleries of the two species within a few inches of each other. 



'Kellogg, Vernon L., American Insects, 1908, p. 108. 



