TERMITES IN THE CANAL. ZONE AND PANAMA. 19 



away from the insect. There is a very pungent, nauseating odor 

 about these termites. 



No queens were found, although practically every bit of the nest 

 was examined carefully. The number of workers and soldiers was 

 simply stupendous. They walk either forward or backward with, 

 considerable speed. When uncovered on the ground, they crawl 

 away in several columns, two or three termites abreast, and seek some 

 dark place, into which they pour in great numbers. 



Several pockets were found in the nest in which were a large 

 number of very young termites. When these were disturbed certain 

 workers began to pick them up and hasten away with. them. 



Specimens of this termite were also taken from galleries at the 

 base of lamp-post 600 and were probably part of the nest in the 

 service box. 



POSSIBLE MECHANICAL CARRIAGE OF NEMATODE. 



On February 23, 1922, Zetek and Molino found this termite work- 

 ing inside of the trunk of a 4-year-old live coconut palm (Cocos 

 nucifera) back of house 259, Ancon. Canal Zone. This is an im- 

 portant observation, because Dr. N. A. Cobb, agricultural technolo- 

 gist of the United States Department of Agriculture, and Mr. Zetek 

 had made inoculations into the roots and some petioles of this palm 

 of the nematode Aphelenchus cocophiltis, which causes " red-ring " 

 disease of coconut palms. Later, when some of the infested roots 

 were taken up, workers and nasuti of this termite were found. Thus 

 species of Nasutitermes may prove to be mechanical carriers of this 

 'nematode. 



It is a common sight in the Tropics and subtropics to see earthlike 

 shelter galleries and carton " niggerhead " nests made by species of 

 Nasutitermes on the trunks of coconut palms, the tubes running from 

 base to crown like delicate graceful dark pencilings on the trunks 

 and the nest often being in the tops of the trees. These termites 

 also burrow into the wood of the trunks and sometimes in the West 

 Indies the queen is in the wood of the tree rather than within the 

 carton nest. Hence, if it should be proved that these termites are 

 mechanical carriers of the nema, it would be a serious matter to 

 eradicate them. Doctor Cobb kindly examined specimens of workers 

 and soldiers of Nasutitermes ephratae taken from this infested palm 

 at Ancon, but found no trace of the nematode Ap&elencJms cocophilus. 

 He says : " I think that you are right in suspecting that these ants 

 might be carriers of this nema.* Their habits would seem to put them 

 under suspicion, but, at any rate in this case, they do not seem 

 to have been carrying them." 



Workers and nasuti of this termite were collected oh a live fan 

 palm on May 29, 1922, at Matias Hernandez, by Zetek. 



A first-form queen of Nasutitermes ephratae collected in a small 

 carton tree nest on a mango tree in an avocado plantation at 

 Frijoles, Canal Zone, on February 19, 1921, by Zetek and Molino, 

 measured 21 millimeters in length and 4.5 millimeters in width. 



A large elliptical termitarium of Nasutitermes ephratae, 2 feet 

 by 1^ feet in size, with tunnels leading to it, was found attached to 

 the base of two petioles of a coconut palm at Corozal, Canal Zone, 

 in a small coconut grove about 8 years old. On the ground was an- 



