WOOD-DESTROYING WHITE ANTS. 377 



It will be rendered yet a good deal more eas}^ if attention is paid 

 to some noteworthj" facts — chieflj'' of a biological nature — which I 

 propose to discnss in the following pages. In doing so I limit 

 myself in the main to the more important noxious forms Leuco- 

 termes, Goptotennes and Odontotermes (I^ete). 



In the first place I mention a feature which is not just very 

 striking, but 3'et must not be passed over in silence^ as it is, in a 

 higher or lesser degree, found in all true wood-destroyers — Odonto- 

 termes Fece alone excepted — viz., the opaque white appearance of 

 the body or abdomen of soldiers as well as workers. The whitish 

 colouring of the latter is specially noteworthy : for the workers of 

 almost all non-wood destroying species have their abdomen coloured 

 distinctly dark and blackish, owing to the earthy material contained 

 in the intestinal canal. 



As regards Goptotermes, it is to be noted that the colour of the 

 head is a very pronounced brown red, which is much deeper than 

 in any other kind of Termites. Still more characteristic of this 

 form is the large amount of milky white fluid which the soldiers 

 give ofi" from their mouth when irritated (v. g. when squeezed with 

 a pincette, or disturbed in an}?- other ^vaj). When the soldiers are 

 put in alcohol, this fluid rapidly coagulates and forms a little 

 white ball of the size of a pin-head or so, fixed between the 

 mandibles. No other termite shows this phenomenon in like 

 manner. 



It may here be added that the soldiers of Microtermes — the most 

 conspicuous feature of which is their small size — are likewise dis- 

 tinguished by their giving off a relatively large drop of secretion. 

 But in their case the fluid is transparent, and when placed in 

 alcohol, turns into a sticky, semi-transparent, jelly-like mass to 

 which everything rather firmly adheres which comes in contact 

 with it. 



When Termites are found actuallj^ feeding on wood, the task of 

 identification is considerably lightened by a close study of the 

 peculiar way in which each species attacks wood. It is a well- 

 known fact that the bark-boring beetles (Scolytidce and others), 

 and specially their larvas, mine the bark in such a manner that the 

 ensuing figure is quite characteristic of the species hj which it 

 has been made. Thus by examining the said figures an expert 

 will be able to ascertain the name of the particular species to which 

 they are due. Now I believe that something quite similar is to be 

 observed with regard to our wood-eating White Ants. They also 

 produce what I propose to call " feeding-figures " (from the German 

 " Frassbild "J characteristic of the several noxious species. Plates 

 II, III, and IV give photographic representations of the different 

 feeding-figures. I add detailed descriptions of those of our chief 

 wood-destroyers. 



