22 BULLETIN 1232, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ANOPLOTERMES GRACILIS Snyder. 
Very little is known of the habits of Anoplotennes gracilis. Ap- 
parently it does not construct a regular mound nest. 
On February 18, 1922. Zetek collected workers and nymphs of the 
first form at Alhajuela, Republic of Panama, on the upper Cha^res 
River basin. They were in claylike dirt under a stone at the base of 
a mango tree. There was no well-defined termitarium : the termites 
lived in burrows made in the clay. The long, white, slender nymphs 
were agile and moved about with ease. The termites did not pene- 
trate the wood of the tree, so far as could be observed; their guts 
were filled with dirt. 
TERMITE-LIKE SHELTER TUBES OF AN ANT. 
In connection with the earthlike shelter tubes constructed by 
various species of termites, it is interesting to note that in Panama 
an ant forms termite-like carton shelter galleries along tree trunks 
(PL X, ])). Specimens of this ant and the gallery substance were 
collected by Zetek and Molino on November 16, 1921, at Valdez's 
Place, Las Sabanas, near Panama City, Republic of Panama. This 
ant has been determined by Dr. W. M. Wheeler, of Bussey Institute, 
Harvard University, as Azteca foreli Emery. 
The tree with these ant galleries on it was an old Ficus sp. about 
8 feet in diameter, the top of it cut off squarely. The inside of the 
tree was well rotted. Along the outside (the bark was sound) ran 
many galleries, three-eighths to three-fourths inch in diameter, which 
at first sight looked like those of termites. They were, however, 
rough in appearance and very irregular in outline and were made of 
chewed-up pieces of wood. The inner surface is smoother, the outer 
rough. The old ones were colored by age, so that they resembled the 
color of the bark and even had alga? growing over them. The new 
galleries were distinctly of fresh-wood color. The ants were found 
wherever the tunnels were broken into, but there were a few places 
where the ants were unusually abundant. There were no signs of 
termites in the tree at the time. 
Doctor Wheeler wrote : 
Before the ants arrived I was certain from his (Zetek's) description of the 
galleries that the specimens would prove to be Cremaetoffaster stolli Forel, but 
when they arrived I found that they were instead Azteca foreli Emery. { still 
believe that the galleries were probably constructed by tbe Cremastogaster, 
because I am quite familiar with tttat insect and its work, but that the Azteca 
had taken possession of them. 
Doctor Wheeler further states that Forel (i, p. Ill) was also of 
the opinion that these carton galleries on trees and rocks are really 
made by Qrernmtogaster stolli, but appropriated by Azteca for, ft. 
CONTROL. 
Methods for the prevention of attack by termites have been given 
in some detail in a previous paper ( .\ />. 800-301). To generalize 
briefly: 
In the construction of buildings or other structures, steel and 
stone or concrete should, where possible, supplant wood. All wood 
should be treated with chemical wood preservatives before being 
