18 BULLETIN 1232, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
NASUTITERMES EPHRATAE Holmgren. 
Xasutitermes ephrata-e is very destructive in Panama, although 
apparently not quite as common as N. cwnigera. Out-of-door, 
semispherical, " niggerhead,'' carton tree nests constructed of earth 
and excreted wood made by this species are apparently very rare 
in Panama. 
At the Yenado Plantation, Venado, Canal Zone, on August 10, 
1921, Zetek and Molino found that almost all the coconut palms had 
tunnels of Xasutitermes on the trunks. Many palms had fairly 
large nests on the trunks just below the crown, where they were pro- 
tected by the "lace." These termites also work freely between the 
sheaths of the frond petioles, mining well into the plant tissues of 
the trunk. They are very destructive and do not seem to confine 
their attack to sickly trees, but apparently any palm may be infest- 
ed. They are abundant also on other trees in this grove. Workers 
and soldiers collected from a gallery proved to be A 7 , ephratae. 
INJURY TO ELECTRICAL INSULATION. 
This termite has also affected electrical insulation. On Novem- 
ber 29, 1921, a typical Xasutitermes termitarium, probably a sec- 
ondary "nest," was discovered in a service box in a lamp-post. 
Specimens of the termites were collected by Zetek and Molino, with 
the assistance of E. St. Clair Clayton, who discovered the place, at 
Miraflores, Canal Zone, east wall, lake section, in concrete lamp- 
post Xo. 600. 
These concrete lamp-posts have a bronze service box in which 
are two sockets for telephone service and one socket for a portable 
110-volt light. They are covered with a bronze cover. The interior 
of the post is hollow. The wires to the telephone and light services 
come from a manhole opposite the post. In this case, this being the 
end post, the manhole is only about 2 feet deep. Leueotermes tenuis 
was collected in this service manhole. 
The termitarium was back of the frame on which the telephone 
and light sockets were attached. It embraced all of the five wires 
and even covered parts of the frame and sockets (PI. IX, C). This 
termitarium was about 15 inches in diameter and about 3 feet tall. 
The photograph of this service box shows only a portion of the 
nest. 
The termites did not eat into the lead anywhere, although where 
the cable went through the termitarium the insects made a smooth 
whitish covering about it (PL VII, B). However, the cloth and 
rubber insulation were eaten, as was the weatherproofed braid from 
the wires leading to the overhead lights (PI. IX, E). They do not 
care for copper and usually when the copper was made bare, they 
protected themselves from it by forming a son of sheath of the same 
substance as the rest of the termitarium (PI. ATI, />). Much of 
this exposed copper wire was covered with verdigri>. 
The thickness of the rubber protection is almost 1.5 millimeters. 
As soon as the nest was opened in the least, hordes of nasuti or 
soldiers came out to investigate. Whenever any one of these was 
touched or picked up with forceps, it emitted a drop of whitish 
liquid; sometimes it was squirted out, falling about J) or 10 inches 
