324 



THE AMERICAN 



(Schfii)h Australian Insects.) Many otlier ex- 

 amples of book enemies miglit be collected. But 

 let Its not mourn over our fate in this country, 

 but rather rejoice that our insect enemies are no 

 worse. No one can contemplate the ravages of 

 White Ants, or Termites, in tropical climes, upon 

 furniture, clothing, books and papers, and even 

 houses themselves, or anything not composed of 

 brick, stone or the metals, vsrithout rejoicing that 

 our little perplexities are no worse. Humboldt 

 iuforms us that in all Equinoctial America where 

 the White Ant abounds, it is injinitely rare to 

 find papers or books that go back fiitj' or sixty 

 years. 



[We present at the head of this article (Fig. 

 200) outline flgnres of the two insects described 

 by our correspondent («, Sitodrcpa jxinicea; b, 

 itsantennfe; c, Ptinus brunncus). Among the 

 insects which would come under the head of 

 " Book-worms," and which do considerable dam- 

 age in this latitude, 

 may be mentioned 

 two "Species oiPseu- 

 doveuroptera. The 

 flrst of these is the 

 apterous form of a 

 min ute Psoc M.?,com- 

 nionly termed the 

 "Book-louse." The 

 most common sx^e- 

 cies seems to be an 

 apterous formof P*. 

 domesticus, Burm., an importation from Eui'ope ; 

 though Ps. amabilis and Ps. geologus, Walsh, 

 are also found in like situations. Both these last 

 forms are normally a^oterous, and it is difficult to 

 separate them from domesticus. The second 

 book pest is the common Termite, or White Ant 

 ( Termes Jlavipes') , the different forms of which 

 we illustrated on page 266. Two years ago it was 

 found that many of the books and public docu- 

 ments in tlie vaults at the cajntol in Springfield, 

 Illinois, were utterly ruined by the gnawings of 

 some animal, which was subsequently proved to 

 be this common N. A. Termite. These insects had 

 made large irregular gnawings through many of 

 them, and had discolored the leaves by their 

 excrement. Tliere is also now on exhibition at 

 the St. Louis Mercantile Library, a large law- 

 book, presented by Kobt. McKenna, Esq., which 

 was in lilce manner injured by these Termites 

 while it lay in the St. Louis Court House. Our 

 Figure 201 represents the outline of the gnaw- 

 ings. The entrance was made througli the 

 leatliern cover, but did not quite reach through 

 to the other side. In both these instances the 

 books were kept in a rather damp place. — Ed.] 



THE RED ANT OF TEXAS. 



[Fig. ao2.] 



It is not often that I can find leisure moment 

 to devote to writing, but as I have never seci 

 anytliing in your periodical devoted to the Rei 

 Ant of Texas, and as we have for the past icv 

 days been digging them out iu my yard and gai- 

 den, I thought I would write y(m a few lines, in 

 regard to them ; and herewith I enclose speci] 

 mens of the same. The large Ant with wings iii 

 the female, of which few are found in a nes 

 where there are countless millions, billions oi 

 trillions of workers. Now, no man probablj 

 over saw one of these female ants appear at th( 

 surface of the earth voluntarily; and if thej 

 never come to the surface why are they iirovidei 

 witli wings? You may say that they probably 

 do come to the surface and that they have nevei 

 been noticed, but I have seen many old mci 

 who were born in Texas, and have lived here 

 for years myself, and none of us ever saw one oi 

 these female ants until a few years since, whc} 

 one of their nests was dug out, and great wa^ 

 the astonishment of every one who beheld thest 

 enormous ants with wings; and at first few 

 would believe that they were ants, but believed 

 the story about them a hoax. 



Thei-e arc two varieties of the Red Ant here, 

 one of which does but little damage (almost 

 none), and woi-ks in the day time, in the bright 

 sun, altogether. Their nests are comxiaratively 

 small, usually having but one entrance. The 

 workers differ iu form from the "Cut Ant "in 

 thei'c not being such a disproportion between the 

 head and the body. Little is known about their 

 habitation, as they do but little damage, and 1 

 presume no one ever toolc the trouble to dig out 

 their nests. The other variety of Ked Ant is 

 [rig. 203.] commonly known here as the 



"Cut Ant " (appropriately 

 named), and ofttimes it is 

 very destructive. Its habita- 

 tion is underground, and con- 

 sists (in a large nest such as 

 we have just finished diggiiig 

 out) of many thousand apart- 

 ments, varying iu size from a walnut to a barrel. 



