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LOCAL ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



Members of the New York Entomological Society and all others, are solicited 

 to contribute to this column, llieir rare captures, local lists and other items of 

 interest relating to the insect fauna of New Vork City and vicinity. 



SOME NOTES ON THE RAVAGES OF THE WHITE ANT. 



{■/■/■: A'. i//':s /-/..I f//'/-:s). 



I.oi |> 11. Jol IKl.. 



The rapiti iiicreasf, within a few years of tlie white ants 

 ( '/'ir///(S //<r7'//^t-s] in the eity of New \'ovk and especially Harlem 

 which is now overrini with them, makes the fact of their present 

 ami future injury a very serious one, especially as their habits ami 

 lives while underjiromul are so very little known, it havinjj^ always 

 been supposed that there was but one (pieen in each colony, while 

 the fact is that their nund)er varies in different colonies, havinjf 

 fomul as manv as nine and another time fourteen layini:^ and 

 fertile (pieens livinij; tosj^ethcr in the same cell or gallery, this 

 bein.u' 1 believe the first record of cpieens beins^" found. 



They, like many other insects are injurious or beneticial aicord- 

 injr to cirtumstantes ; when keepinii' to the woods which is their 

 natural home, thev do oidy jrood as livini;' generally in ilead and 

 decaying wood, they help, with hosts of other insects, to clear tlu' 

 gromul for a new growth ; but, when they get in a city and begin 

 to make sawdust of our homes, it is time to call a halt ami try to 

 fmd means to destroy them. 



Mv observations as to the injury they do extends over a 

 IH'riod of manv vears, antl while somewhat limited as to area 

 (having mostlv taken jilace at or near my home) have been very 

 thort)Ugh. The fact that they always work mider cover helps to 

 jirotect them and hides the mischief they do until too late to 

 prevent it, and when discovered is generally attributed to some 

 other cause. 



A few examples of their ravages in my house will help to give 

 vou a general idea of the immense amomit of damage and injury 

 they are capable of doing in a city like ours, amounting to many 

 thousands of dollars in the course of only one year. 



When I moved into my present house, I found the frame 

 work of the cellar windows all eaten away, only a thin shell com- 

 posed of the paint and a few fibres of wood remaining, they hati 

 also besrun to eat the sash when accidentlv discovered. From 



