BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 419 
houses in specimens of foreign timbers; in 1874 such a family was 
discovered in the palm house at the Royal Gardens at Kew, 
where they w x ere isolated and kept under observation for some 
time, specimens being exhibited by Mr. R. McLachlan* at a 
meeting of the Entomological Society of London in 1874. 
Turning to Africa, we find that termites are very generally 
distributed, about twenty species having been catalogued in 
Hagen's list from this part of the world; of these two are peculiar 
to the Isle of France, and one to Madeira; some species are very 
local and confined to small areas, while others have a very wide 
geographical distribution. The famous Termes bellicosus, immor- 
talised by Smeathmanf in the earliest and most complete account 
of mound-building termites, according to Hagen, ranges round 
the whole coast line of Africa. 
As might be expected, the nearer to the equator the more 
plentiful the termites; and nearly all equatorial travellers have 
something to say about these pests. Paul Du ChailluJ gives a 
general account of several species on the west coast in his popular 
works of travel; Oates§ notices those in Matabele Land, and 
figures one of their larger nests; while Professor Drummond|| deals 
extensively with those found in the Lake ISTyassa country. 
Though termites are so plentiful on the main land, I can find no 
species recorded from Madagascar. 
The hold that the white ants have obtained on that rock-bound 
island, St. Helena, is a remarkable instance of accidental coloniza- 
tion. It is stated on good authority that before the year 1840 
white ants were unknown on this island; but at this date a 
captured slaver was condemned and dismantled at Jamestown, in 
* R. McLachlan. Proc. Ent. Soc. p. xiii. 1874. 
t H. Smeathman. On the Termites of Africa and other hot climates. 
Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. London (Abridged Edition), Vol xv. p. 61, 178 L. 
X P. du Chaillu. Explorations and Adventures in Equatorial Africa, p. 
314, 1868; and My Apingi Kingdom, pp 115-142, 1871. 
§ Frank Gates. Matabele Land and the Victoria Falls. London, 1881, 
p. 134. 
|| H. Drummond. Tropical Africa, chap. vi. London, 1889. 
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