1 TERMITES IN THE CANAL ZONE AND PANAMA. 15 
The history of the palm following inoculation was as follows: 
At first there was no indication of anything wrong inside. Then 
came a sudden rapid growth, which lasted a very brief time. The 
palm then took on an unhealthy appearance, which became more 
and more evident, so that people unaware of what had been done to 
the palm remarked that it did not look well. Early in June there 
was a browning and drying out of the tips of the leaflets, beginning 
with those nearest the apex and gradually working downward. The 
final collapse came July 7, i. e., almost six months after the inocula- 
tion, the palm breaking off 2 feet from the ground level. 
The photographs show the palm after it had fallen. The close-up 
of the trunk (PI. VII, B) shows at the base a slanting injury. The 
extent of this wound is better showm in the accompanying sketch 
(fig. 1), which gives the size and shape of the trunk, relation to 
ground level, and the location, size, and shape of the wound. This 
wound is of importance because it afforded entrance to termites. 
During the time the palm was being watched this wound was sus- 
pected of harboring termites, but there were no outward indications 
of their presence, and to have cut into the injury in search of them 
would have interfered with the experiment. There were no galleries 
up the palm trunk, but, as was discovered later, termites were pres- 
ent inside, having come up through the earth. 
The termites were very abundant inside of the trunk, where they 
had formed a well-defined termitarium. Only soldiers and workers 
were present, however, and there were no signs of queen chambers. 
Five photographs were taken of a section through this termitarium 
which illustrate well its character (Pis. VII and VIII). Special 
attention is called to the runways in the shape of holes (PI. VIII, 
B, C, D, E). At the widest part of the termitarium the termites 
filled about one-third the width of the trunk, or about 6 inches, 
but their tubular runways went to all parts, although none were 
seen as far up as BB of the sketch (fig. 1) . 
All of the tissue of the termitarium was abundantly supplied 
with live nemas. Individual termites were carefully picked up and 
washed in water, and by this means many live nemas which had been 
clinging to their bodies were recovered. 
Since these termites had only a secondary termitarium in this 
palm, they must have had the main one elsewhere, and probably 
members of this same colony visited other palms in the neighbor- 
hood. The possibility of mechanical transmission of nemas to 
healthy palms by the termites is thus seen to be great. They may 
be carried in any stage, including eggs. Likewise, since in this case 
nemas were also in the roots, and it has been shown that nemas will 
live in the soil about an infested palm, termites are well able to 
become soiled with live nemas in the earth, and thus bring the in- 
fection to other palms. 
The photo of section CO (PL VII, C), which is the upper side, 
shows a part of the termitarium (indicated by an arrow). 
After the trunk had been cut into four parts, as shown in the 
sketch (fig. 1) (10 inches. 8 inches, 11 inches, and 11 inches), at 
4 p. m., July 7, 1922, the four segments were left in the room till 
next day. At 8 a. m.. July 8, Zetek found along the face of the 
second section (from top) a covered runway or gallery 7 inches 
