TERMITES IN THE UNITED STATES. 13 



tubes of small diameter, constructed of earth and excrement (PL 

 III). M. Chrisman has found these termites in Arizona under simi- 

 lar coverings at the base of mesquite stumps, fallen limbs, twigs, 

 etc. ; always on the dry Avood, but not in cells in the wood, apparently 

 eating only the outside. Many other termites occur in North and 

 Jentral America. 



ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF TERMITES IN THE UNITED STATES. 



While termites damage a great variety of wooden structures, stored 

 books, documents, paper, and other material, as well as occasionally 

 injuring or killing living trees, shrubs, and growing crops, the prin- 

 cipal and most serious damage is to foundation timbers and the wood- 

 work of buildings occupied by man and the contents or material 

 stored therein. Similar damage to other construction timber in con- 

 tact with the ground is considerable in the Southern States. Appar- 

 ently, it is only occasionally that these insects attack living trees and 

 shrubs, growing crops, or other vegetation, and then only because 

 the land has been recently cleared and there is much decaying wood 

 or humus in the soil ; or, according to C. L. Marlatt, of the Bureau 

 of Entomology, in the case of corn in the prairie region of Kansas, 

 because the insects are present in enormous numbers and have been 

 breeding in the heavily sodded soil, where they feed on the roots of 

 the vegetation. Sometimes this injury to growing corn is due also 

 to the method of plowing under old stubble. 



Hence, in the following account of general damage to a great 

 .variety of stored material and products, as well as living crops, it 

 should be borne in mind that such damage is usually occasional, and 

 then only local and not in general a serious problem. 



DAMAGE TO BUILDINGS AND OTHER STRUCTURES OF WOOD. 



Damage to foundation timbers, flooring in basements, and other 

 woodwork of dwellings occupied by man, as well as to other buildings, 

 is common and occasionally serious in the eastern and southern 

 portions of the United States, especially in the South Atlantic and 

 Gulf States. Injury of this type has been recorded as occurring in 

 large cities, 1 as well as in rural regions, as far north as Manchester, 

 N. H., and the shores of the Great Lakes (Benton Harbor, Mich.). 



1 Records in the correspondence files of the Bureau of Entomology and branch of Forest 

 Insect Investigations include Benton Harbor, Mich., Manchester, N. H., Boston, Mass., 

 New York, N. Y., Atlantic City, N. J., Philadelphia, Pa., Wilmington, Del., Baltimore, 

 Md., Washington, D. C, Wheeling, W. Va., Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton, Ohio, 

 Indianapolis, Jeffersonville, and South Bend, Ind., Cazenovia, 111., St. Louis, Mo., Char- 

 lotte, N. C, Charleston and Spartanburg, S. C, Louisville and Franklin, Ky., Memphis, 

 Tenn., Augusta and Savannah, Ga., Montgomery and Birmingham, Ala., Vicksburg, Miss., 

 Jacksonville, Miami, and St. Augustine, Fla., New Orleans and New Iberia, La., Beaumont, 

 Dallas, and San Diego, Tex., Little Rock and Van Buren, Ark., Oklahoma City and 

 Wewoka, Okla., Manhattan, Kans., Colorado Springs, Colo., Salt Lake City, Utah, and 

 localities in southern California. 



