BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 
43.7 
reputed termite-proof, but I have a portion of a plank, received 
from Mr. C. French, of Melbourne, which has been half consumed 
by them. The Leichhardt tree of Queensland is also quoted, 
but at Dalrymple, N.Q., I have seen large logs taken out of an 
old house riddled with their holes. About Sydney when attacking 
houses they will seldom touch red wood if there is any clear pine. 
I have seen a piece of red wood that was nailed to a clear pine 
board, the latter being only a shell while the former was only 
slightly grooved by them on the outer surface. 
I have noticed that about the neighbourhood of Croydon 
while nearly every old hardwood fence shows their ravages more 
or less, they seldom seem to attack soft wood picket fences. But 
the hardness of wood is no impediment to them. They show 
a marked preference for the stumps and logs of dead Eucalypts over 
those of wattle, Casuarina, and the smaller forest trees. Near 
Hornsby I found them at work on the trunk of a large dead 
white gum that was as hard and solid as bell metal; they had 
come up from the ground beneath the roots and just below the 
surface, boring straight into the wood and then turning upwards, 
cutting a clean cylindrical tunnel a quarter of an inch in diameter. 
It is therefore not surprising that they sometimes gnaw holes in 
sheet lead, which is much softer than many woods attacked by them. 
White ants are in many instances introduced into buildings in 
the city and suburbs by means of fire-wood; during this last 
season I have exhumed three large family parties, containing 
enough soldiers, workers and immature winged specimens to found 
a very respectable colony; these insects would remain in the log 
probably until the early part of the summer and then migrate to 
more roomy quarters. They will live for several months in a 
tightly closed up tin or tube without any further attention, and 
though they cannot live more than two hours in sea water and a 
little longer in fresh, yet in the heart of a dead log they might 
float or drift a considerable distance without being destroyed. 
In conclusion, I must tender my thanks to the following cor- 
respondents : — Messrs. G. McD. Adamson, of Uralla; Norman 
Ethridge, Colo Yale; F. B. Miller, Moree; S. Russell, Bowral; H. 
Bumsey, Barber's Creek; J. Mitchell, Narellan; and my father 
