WOOD-DESTROYIXG WHITE ANTS. 379 



Leacolerincs. But tliere is this difFerence that the soft woody 

 tissue is not completely destroyed; larger or smaller bits of" it 

 have been left intact together with long strands of harder tissue 

 (•'the late summer-Avood " of the annual rings). These strands 

 do not, therefore, stand out like parallel clear-cut lines which 

 are so conspicuous a feature in the feeding figure of Leucotermes ; 

 but their appearance is more like that of strips of varying breadth 

 placed irregularly side by side. The Termites make not unfre- 

 quently cross-cuts even through the hard tissue of the annual 

 rings • this is marked on our photo by the short transverse lines by 

 whicli neighbouring grooves ( represented by the long black lines) 

 communicate with each other. 



The fillings of Coptotermes are altogether diiferent from those of 

 Leucotermes, and quite characteristic of this kind. They are not 

 made up of broad thin ribbons or sheets as described above, but of 

 a Avire or string-like material intertwined in such a \\'ay as to form a 

 sort of irregular network. Sometimes the " strings" of the network 

 appear rather flattened and coarse as in the U23per part of the left 

 half of the first photograph of plate III, sometimes their shape is 

 more slender and roundish as in the loAver portion of the photo. 

 The fillings of Coptotermes are a good deal tougher and not so 

 easily breakable as those of Leucot&nnes . 



Yet another curious habit of CojAotermes must here be mentioned. 

 Wherever these Termites come across verj^ smooth surfaces they 

 cover them with their excrements, probably to facilitate the 

 jiassage over them ; they often do the same also on the inner walls 

 of the holes and tunnels they have eaten into the wood. The 

 first photograph on plate IV shows a wine bottle* taken from a 

 nailed-up box into which the Termites had found their way. The 

 coating of excrements on the surface of the glass comes out quite 

 distinctly ; it forms, as usual, an unecjually spread cover : in some 

 places it appears rather thick, in others it is scant}' or altogether 

 wanting. Leucotermes makes a similar coating on smooth surfaces, 

 but it is somewhat more fine-grained and lacks the numerous 

 whitish dots so clearly visible all over the layers deposited by Copto- 

 termes (unfortunately not appearing on our photo). 



With regard to the last of our common wood-destroyers, there is 

 one peculiar feature to be noted which marks them off at once and 

 quite unmistakalDly from the two kinds already mentioned : 

 Odontotermes Fece invariably destroys wood from the surface inAvards, 

 Avhereas Leucotermes as Avell as Coptotermes attack the inner tissues 

 leaving the outer layer almost entirely intact. The latter forms are 



* My grateful acknowledgments for this valuable present are dne to Mr. R. A. 

 Spence of Messrs. Phipson & Co. — I call special attention to a A^ery remarkable 

 fact clearly aj^pearing on the photo : even the tinfoil capsule of the bottle has in 

 lorde places been destroyed by Coptotermes which is, perhaps, the most formidable 

 of our wood-destroyers. 

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