376 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL RLST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII. 



in, or driven into, mounds will, I believe, in the majority of cases, 

 be attacked only when the pieces obstruct nest holes or passages 

 built by the White Ants ; for it is quite natural that the Termites 

 should try to remove the obstacle by destroying the wood. If, 

 however, the wood put into the mound does not block any passage, 

 it is quite probable that the White Ants will not go out of their 

 way to feed on it. Real test experiments can onl}^ be brought 

 about by giving the wood to genuine wood-destroyers (Termites' 

 mentioned binder class I) ; if they leave it alone after sufficient trial, 

 it may be said to be " termite-proof," but not otherwise. 



What has been said so far seems sufficient to make good our 

 previous statement that some knowledge of the specific differences 

 of White Ants is required from all who by their professional work 

 are brought in contact with them. But how far is this knowledge 

 to extend ? Ought everyone to be able to find out the scientifi- 

 cally correct name of any given specimen ? This seems clearly to 

 be asking too much, since even the experienced specialist often 

 finds this by no means an easy task. Opinions on this point ma}^, 

 of course, be divided, but to my mind it is quite sufiicient for the 

 practical purposes of the architect or engineer, if he is able to tell 

 the really noxious Termites from the others. 



To accomplish this minimum, a careful study of the photo- 

 graphs on plate I and their detailed comparison with actual speci- 

 mens is all, I believe, that is required ; the photos alone Mall, it is 

 hoped, prove more serviceable to the practical man than lengthy 

 scientific descriptions or elaborate determinative tables. All our 

 wood-destroyers, as far as at present known to the writer of this 

 paper, 'are represented on plate I, * magnified to the same scale, m., 

 about ten times their natural size ( the latter is indicated by the 

 hair-line accompanjdng each figure). Their chief distinctive marks — 

 peculiar build of head and mandibles, and natural size — come 

 out with sufficient clearness, so that with a judicious application of 

 a common pocket lens (not to mention a good amount of patience 

 and perseverance, so indispensable for this i-ather trying work) every- 

 one ought to be able to say, with a fair degree of certainty, whe- 

 ther a specimen examined by him belongs to the kinds injurious 

 to wood, or otherwise. Since the mound-builders and several other 

 equally easily recognisable forms need not be taken any special 

 notice of — their tendencies for destrojdng wood, as has been 

 pointed out, not being of any great importance, — only seven species 

 remain for exact identification. This task ought not to appear so 

 difficult as to discourage one from trying to master it. 



* Photographs of soldiers only are given because they alone have such conspi- 

 cuous peculiarities of form as to mark off sufficiently well one species from the 

 other. The workers of the various kinds look all more or less alike save that they 

 differ in size. 



