19,1 Light: Notes on Philippine Termites, II 41 
no extensive collections of house termites have been made here 
or elsewhere, I do not know whether C. cynocephalus and P. 
nocens have the same distribution ; nor do we know their re- 
lative frequency. We do know that practically every house in 
the Islands is infested with this or other species of house 
termites. 4 
These termites attack isolated boards and are therefore not 
reached by methods which prevent the activity of the much more 
seriously harmful Coptotermes, Leucotermes, and Eutermes 
( Microcerotermes ) species, which require a connection with the 
ground or a considerable moisture supply. Since the “house ter- 
mites” reach their future habitat in a winged state, there is no 
way of preventing their presence in tropical regions where it is 
impossible to keep the house closed against their ingress. The 
only methods of combating them would be, therefore, the use of 
treated lumber, together with the prompt removal of any infested 
boards, which would presumably be prohibitive in cost. Their 
presence is usually demonstrated at once by the little piles of 
impressed pellets of faecal matter which they throw out from their 
galleries : during the night, as a rule, but sometimes during the 
day. These little piles of yellow or orange-colored pellets (color 
depending upon that of the wood) are very characteristic sights 
in our houses in the Tropics. These termites are taken by many 
to be beetles because of the larvalike appearance of the worker 
and the curious color and shape of the soldier. Indeed they are 
locally known as gorgojo (beetle) or more commonly bucbuc 
(borer) and with the species of the genus Planocryptotermes 
are the only termites not recognized as such and given the name 
anay by Filipinos generally. 
Genus PLANOCRYPTOTERMES novum 
DIAGNOSIS 
Imago. — As in Cryptotermes but with as many as 18 5 segments 
in antennae. 
1 Collections which I mad© in Cebu and Negros during April and May, 
and further collections in Manila, have produced no new species of house- 
living Cryptotermes. They have shown Planocryptotermes to be common 
and apparently much more prevalent than Cryptotermes and have pro- 
duced another species of Planocryptotermes from Manila, one from Cebu, 
and apparently two from Negros, all closely related to P. nocens. We 
would seem justified in the belief, therefore, that the “house termites,” 
whose piles of faecal pellets are to be found in nearly every dwelling in 
the Philippines, belong in great part to the new genus Planocryptotermes. 
' In the adult of an undescribed species from Manila. 
