1 59 
Reports to the Foreign Office. 
j Dongola, Darfur, Kordofan, 
( Sennaar, and Abyssinia. 
destructor , Kordofan. 
viarum 
bellicosus 
destructor 
mordax 
atrox 
arbor urn 
trinervius 
lateralis 
fatale , Arabia. 
T. bellicosus 
T. 
H. 
T. 
T. 
T. 
T. 
T. 
T. 
T. 
T. 
> Sierra Leone and Gambia. 
Damage caused by Termites. 
The usual way of working is to destroy wood-work of all kinds. In 
all instances Termites work in the dark ; they enter wood-work from the 
ground, working up inside the wood from where the poles, supports and 
timbers are placed in the soil. Furniture, books and papers are attacked 
and destroyed, the wood-work being completely hollowed out, nothing 
but a thin papery outer shell left, which naturally can stand no pressure 
and so, soon collapses. 
Damage to living substances and crops is by no means unusual. The 
American T. ftavipes has been recorded destroying turnip roots, by 
gradually eating out the interior.* In Florida they damage living trees 
by eating away the bark about the collar and root, but growing wood is 
only attacked by them under exceptional circumstances when there is no 
dead wood or when they wish to escape from the heated soil.f This 
species also attacks potatoes growing in rich soil or where there is a 
considerable quantity of decaying vegetable matter. The insects form 
scars or pits covering the surface, often over-hung by the dead and dying 
skin. 
Termes futile is very destructive to trees in Arabia.! In Ceylon tea 
and coffee plants are attacked by them, the stems being gnawed through 
just below the ground. 
Termes australis , according to French (“ Handbook of Injurious Insects 
of Victoria,” pp. 11, 187, 1893), attacks vines and fruit trees in Victoria. 
Damage to living plants is therefore not unusual. 
Varieties of Nests ( Termitaria ). 
Termites or White Ants form variously-shaped nests. The ways of 
destroying Termites differ according to the type of Termitaria. The 
following types of nests seem to occur (1) large mound-nests, often six to 
ten feet high ( T . bellicosus ), (2) small dome-shaped nests over tree stumps, 
seldom more than two feet high ( Eutermes sp.), (3) Arboreal nests, on 
live and dead trees, approached by a covered tunnel up the tree trunk 
{Eutermes arborum and Eutermes sp.), (4) Small round nests in the soil 
mentioned by Major Count Gleichen in his letter of inquiry (sp. ?). 
* “ Insect Life,” II. 283. f “ Insect Life,” I. 341. 
X “ History of Arabia, Ancient and Modern,” A. Crichton, 1833. 
