510 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist, 



of the mature insects survive the dangers of the 

 periodic nights. They run the gauntlet of nearly 

 every other animal. Birds, bats, squirrels, 

 rats, toads, and lizards all flock to the least. 

 Dogs and cats eat the winged ants with avidity. 

 Even man himself does not disdain to partici- 

 pate. The Tamil cooly looks upon a mess of 

 fried termites as a great dainty ; and J have 

 several European acquaintances who consider 

 that '' termites on toast " form a dish worthy of 

 more general inclusion in the menu. They 

 are said to taste not unlike mushrooms. 



The destructive work cf the "white ants'' is 

 too well known to neud much description. 

 They will find their way through the minutest 

 crevice in the walls of a house and work their 

 way to the roof, where (unless disturbed) 

 they will gradually devour the beams and 

 rafters till the whole roof may collapse. 

 Grass floor matting is a favourite object of at- 

 tack. Other species will invade the furniture, 

 and, quite unobserved, will reduce the wood- 

 work to a mere shell Scaffolding and posts 

 in the open are speedily attacked ; and dead 

 or diseased trees are soonor or later invaded 

 by these omnipresent pests. 



Though the mound building species will sel- 

 dom if ever attack healthy living tissues, their 

 invasion of the dead branches may indirectly 

 lead to further and constantly increasing de- 

 cay, which eventually endangers the life of 

 the tree. 



Remedial. 



Nothing short of extermination of the nests 

 will be of any permanent use. It is not always 

 easy to trace an attacking party of white 

 ants to its headquarters. But whenever white 

 ants are discovered in a bunga'ow, a careful 

 search around the premises should be made. The 

 nests may te at a considerable distance from the 

 building, communication being by subterranean 

 passages. If no actual mounds can be found, any 

 suspicious looking holes in the ground around 

 the walls should be marked out for treatment. 



There are two possible ways of completely ex- 

 terminating the insects in the nests, viz., (1) by 

 the use of carbon bisulphide; and (2) by fumiga- 

 tion with sulphur and arsenic. The former treat- 

 ment consistsof pluggingoneor more of the main 

 operings of the nest with tow soaked in carbon 

 bisulphide, after which all the holes are closed 

 with clay. The liquid is highly volatile; and the 

 resulting gas is rapidly fatal to all animal life. 

 Moreover, being heavier than air,the vapour sinks 

 down to the bottom of the nest, displacing the 

 air in all the galleries and chambers, with fatal 

 results to the occupants. This treatment was 

 used in the Botanical Gardens, Peradeniya, with 

 complete success, and it was hoped that a 

 practical remedy for this pest had been found. 

 But the difficulty of obtaining the liquid in 

 sufficient quantity, and its dangerously inflam- 

 mable character, proved a bar to its general 

 adoption. 



The Government Entomologist of Natal (Mr 

 Claude Fuller) has since drawn my atten- 

 tion to a simpler and equally efficacious 

 process (employed with excellent results 

 in South Africa), by which the fumes 

 of sulphur and arsenic are driven into the 



nests by means of a special apparatus patented 

 under the name of the '' Universal " Ant Exter- 

 minator. [For description of this machine see 

 T. A. & Mag. of 0. A. S., page 335, April, 19J8. J 

 The trunks of growing trees — of various 

 kinds — are often covered with galleries and 

 screens of earth by white ants. When rubber 

 stems are affected in this manner, the planter 

 not unnaturally becomes alarmed for the safety 

 of his trees. But if there are no dead patches or 

 hollow knots, the termites will do no damage. 

 They merely clean off the dead outer bark. If 

 necessary they may be prevented from ascending 

 the trees by sprinkling a mixture of refuse petro- 

 leumand waterover theground round the base of 

 the tree. This plan is said to have been adopted 

 with success in Java to keep white ants away 

 from tea plants. The oroporticn appears to be 

 about 1 part of the oil to 20 of water. It must be 

 well shaken up and kept agitated, as the oil and 

 water will not mix intimately. When white ants 

 find their way through the floor of a bungalow, 

 they may be temporarily driven away by pouring 

 little crude carbolic acid into the holes ; but 

 they will reappear with certainty when the 

 odour of the carbolic has evaporated, unless 

 the headquarters of the colony has been des- 

 troyed in the meantime. 



Many mixtures have been recommended to 

 preserve timber from the attacks of termites. 

 Arsenical paint is effective ; but in many cases 

 paint is undesirable. A patent mixture sold 

 under the name of the " Atlas Preservative '■' has 

 a good reputation in Ceylon. 



Many woods seem to be self-protected against 

 attack. They do not necessarily owe this 

 immunity to their hardness. Lunumidella 

 (Metia Dubia), for instance, is an exceptionally 

 soft wood; but tho sound heartwood of this tree 

 is seldom if ever touched by white ants, though 

 they will eat out any portions of the white sap- 

 wood that may have been included. 



The real secret of preserving timber of any 

 kind from attack is to use only ripe, well-dried 

 heartwood. Sapwood soon ferments and becomes 

 permeated by the mycelium of various kinds of 

 destructive fungi, and then becomes attractive 

 to the insects. 



FUNTUMIA ELASTfCA FRUITING 

 m PERAK. 



Mr. A D Machado sends a parcel of seed of 

 Funtumia elastica from trees growing on the 

 Kamuning estate. This is the first occurrence 

 we believe of this tree having fruited here. Has 

 any one else fruited it ? Mr Machado's plants 

 were sent as seed from the Government of the 

 Congo Free State in March, 1905, and he sajs 

 are flourishing trees and seem full of rubbers. 

 Funtumia has long been introduced here, but 

 seems generally to grow slowly and to be subject 

 to the attacks of the caterpillar of C aprinia 

 Conchylatis as has been recorded before. One is 

 glad to hear it is doing better in some parts of 

 the peninsula. Curiously I find a plant of Funtu- 

 mia Africana in the Gardens just fruiting also 

 for the first time. 



H. N. RidlbV. 



—Straits Agricultural Bulletin^ for April, 



