CHAPTER Y. 

 SPECIES INJURIOUS TO WALL PAPER, BOOKS, TIMBERS, ETC. 



By C. L. Marlatt. 

 THE WHITE ANT. 



{Termes flavipes Koll.) 



No insect occurring' in houses is capable of doing greater damage 

 than the one under consideration. Its injuries are often hidden and 

 concealed until the damage is beyond repair, and as it affects the integ- 

 rity of the building' itself as well as its contents, the importance of the 

 insect becomes very evident. Fortunately it is not often present in 

 the North in houses, but as the Tropics are approached the injuries 

 from it in dwellings or other structures of wood are of common expe- 

 rience and often of the most serious nature, causing the sudden crum- 

 bling of bridges, Avharves, and settling of floors or buildings. 



"FiG.i^.— Termes JJavipes: a, adult male; ?^ terminal abdominal segments of same from below; c, same 

 of female; d, male, side A'iew somewhat inflated by treatment with ammonia; e, abdomen of female, 

 side view; /, tarsus, showing joints and claw; a, d, e, enlarged; h, c,f, greatly enlarged (original). 



The term ''white ant," by which this insect is universally known, is 

 entirely inappropriate in so far as it indicates any relationship with the 

 true ants. Strictly speaking, the white ant is not an ant at all, but 

 belongs with the Neuroptera and is allied to the dragon flies and May 

 flies. The only analogy with ants is in superficial resemblance and in 

 the social habits of the two groups, in which great similarity exists. 

 The popular acquaintance with the termite or white ant is mainly 

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