INSECT ENEMIES OF EASTERN FORESTS 93 
wood to cells below the frost line. Occasionaly, physogastric macrop- 
terous queens are found below ground during the heat in summer 
in the roots of trees; also both macropterous and brachypterous re- 
productive forms are frequently found in the wood in the base of 
telegraph and telephone poles below the surface of the ground. The 
galleries are rambling, and the colonies migrate with changing en- 
vironment. Where these termites are infesting a building, it is 
usually impossible to locate the main colony. 
The rate of egg laying is slower in recently established colonies, 
and from 6 to 12 eggs comprise the first batch; eggs require from 30 
to 90 days to hatch. The male and female continue to live together 
for life unless an accident intervenes. The length of life of these 
macropterous reproductive forms is unknown in nature, but from 
their size in relation to their known rate of growth they live for 
many years; they have been kept alive in colonies in the laboratory 
for 6 years. Copulation occurs at irregular intervals, and gradually 
the colony increases in size. In well-established colonies tens of 
thousands of eggs are to be found. Large colonies, although spread 
out and difficult to estimate as to size, are known to contain hundreds 
of thousands of individuals. Very few data are available as to the 
relative proportions in the castes, but workers and macropterous forms 
usually predominate, varying according to the time of year. 
Reticulitermes tibialis Banks, the arid-land subterranean termite, 
is the termite most common in the Western States, and probably 
the most widely distributed species of Reticulitermes in the United 
States. It lives under the most varied conditions, and its ecology 
presents a fascinating study. 
In the Chicago area, in Nebraska, and in California it lives among 
sand dunes, infesting small pieces of wood partly buried in the sand, 
and making shelter tubes through the sand. In Colorado it occurs 
at high elevations on mountain sides up to 7,000 feet elevation, and 
in Kansas and Texas it is to be found in heavily sodded prairies and 
in hard-baked and often in alkali soil. It is also found in moist river- 
bottom lands and along streams in canyons, but essentially it is a 
desert or prairie species. Its distribution overlaps that of 2. flavipes 
in the Eastern States. In the Southwest it has damaged or killed 
hardwood nursery stock in forest nurseries. Colonizing flights occur 
both in spring and summer. Brachypterous reproductive forms have 
been found in the roots of serub oak below the ground in the Garden 
of the Gods, in Colorado. Apterous reproductive forms were found 
under a stone in the same locality. 
Several other species of Reticulitermes and one of Heterotermes 
are known in the Eastern States. With the exception of R. vir- 
ginicus they are of little economic importance, but as they are some- 
times encountered, these species are listed as follows: 
R. hageni Banks, the light-colored termite, and 2. virginicus 
Banks, the southern subterranean termite, are confined to south- 
eastern and central western parts of the United States. 2. arenincola 
Goellner has been found in the vicinity of Chicago in the sand dunes. 
Heterotermes sp., the Florida straight-mandibled subterranean 
termite (soldier caste only), has been found in Florida. It may prove 
to be a species destructive to the woodwork of buildings as are some of 
the other species of this genus. 
