20 BULLETIN 333, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Tex., a number of dead plants were found that had been killed by 

 termites. (PI. X, fig. 1.) On July 2, 1910, in a field at Pearsall, Tex., 

 a large cotton plant that had borne fruit was found already wilted, 

 evidently very recently. When the soil was dug up about 3 inches 

 deep from the surface and the plant moved, the stalk came off, 

 clean /cut, and the termites came out of its heart ; the lower part of 

 the plant was gone and only a few small roots could be found. 

 E. S. Tucker states that on July 12, 1910, an examination of a cotton 

 field at Piano, Tex., showed termites present and working in a few 

 roots that had been killed by a root-rot disease ; the stalks had been 

 dead and dry for some time. The roots were badly bored. (PI. X, 

 fig. 2.) 



POTATOES. 



Injury by termites to potatoes has been recorded by C. L. Marlatt, 1 

 who states that a very common form of injury to those growing in 

 rich soil or where there is a considerable quantity of decaying vege- 

 table matter has often been noted. F. A. Marlatt discovered that 

 white ants caused the damage, the injury to the tubers having the 

 form of scars or pits covering the surface, the pits varying in shape 

 from irregular holes to long, irregular excavations, sometimes ex- 

 tending far into the potato, but commonly to a depth of from one- 

 eighth to one-fourth of an inch. In all cases these pits are more or 

 less overhung and covered by the dead and dying skin, and are also 

 lined with the cellular tissue of potato, showing that the insect cares 

 most for the starch and water of the tuber. C. L. Marlatt now be- 

 lieves that the termite injury to the potato may possibly be secondary 

 to that caused by the scab disease, since white ants frequently eat 

 out scabby spots on potatoes. In the Tropics, however, otherwise 

 sound potatoes are attacked by termites. 



H. M. Russell found that sweet-potato tubers at Cutler, Fla., were 

 being injured, the termites mining through the tuber and eating out 

 nearly the entire interior. In most cases the insects entered the roots 

 of the plants just below the earth and tunneled the stems. It is 

 possible that termites similarly injure other tubers, as radishes, al- 

 though there are no definite records. At Sabinal, Tex., on May 29, 

 1910, F. C. Pratt exposed a small colony of termites 2 in the ground 

 while digging radishes. 



CORN. 



Injury by termites to corn has occasionally been recorded, as may be 

 noted from the following field records of F. M. Webster, late in charge 

 of Cereal and Forage Insect Investigations. G. G. Ainslie states that at 

 Clemson College, S. C, on August 5, 1908, several dead stalks of corn 

 were found in a cornfield ; they proved to be hollowed out inside and 



i Marlatt, C. L. The White Ant. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bur. Ent. Circ. 2d ser. no. 50. 

 rev. ed., 8 p., 4 fig., January, 1908. 



2 Eutermes sp. ; colonies commonly are found in the earth in the Southwest. 



