14 
BULLETIX 333, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUBE. 
W. D. Hunter stated on November 6, 1915 : " The recent hurricane 
injured practically every building in the city [New Orleans, La.] 
more or less, and hundreds were completely demolished. * * * 
Many of the exposed beams were mined by insects and in many 
cases at least this weakening of the timbers was an important con- 
tributory cause of the loss." Much of this damage was probably due 
to termites. 
Termites usually gain entrance to buildings from colonies out- 
doors, and since the workers can extend subterranean galleries for 
comparatively long distances, it is often impossible to trace the in- 
sects to the outside source. However, these galleries, constructed in 
search of moist or decaying wood, originate in decaying stumps, poles, 
fence posts, boards, or other decaying 
wood, or in the earth not very far away. 
By means of these subterranean tun- 
nels infestation by way of wooden 
beams, joists, or supports of porching 
or steps in contact with the ground is 
effected. Termites can even pass over 
impenetrable surfaces, such as stone, 
brick, or concrete foundations, by means 
of small sheds or tubes constructed of 
earth and excrement on such surfaces or 
by means of suspended tubes (fig. 5). 
Sometimes ingress is gained through 
cracks in concrete where foundation 
timbers are imbedded in this material. 
These insects have even been recorded 
by Forbes as boring several feet through the mortar or cement between 
the stones in foundation walls and brick partitions of the Statehouse 
at Springfield, 111., and by Grant as perforating the mortar of the 
brick walls of a Missouri Pacific Railroad engine house (probably 
through cracks or where the cement was disintegrated). There are 
several records of termites piercing the lead covering to telephone 
■cables in Australia and the United States (Savannah, Ga.). 
Since their work is hidden, the presence of termites is often not 
discovered till the damage is beyond repair. Thus beams, flooring 
(PL XV, p. 28) , walls and other woodwork, even up to the second and 
third floors, and furniture are reduced to mere outer shells, the 
interior being completely honeycombed ; often these intervening lon- 
gitudinal layers of wood that are left uneaten are reduced to the 
thinness and consistency of paper. Sometimes the settling of floors 
or the collapse of joists is the first indication that the building is 
infested. This often necessitates extensive repairing or complete 
rebuilding after tearing down and removing the infested timber. 
con- 
Fig. 5. — Suspended tubes 
structed by termites (Leuco- 
iermes flavipes) of earth and 
excreted wood, Elkins, Va. 
Natural size. Drawn by Miss 
E. Hart. (Author's illustra- 
tion.) 
