340 
Philippine Journal of Science 
1919 
cellulose, namely, lignocellulose. Lignin, like cellulose, consists 
of three elements — carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen — but in dif- 
ferent proportions, its percentage composition being C 49, II 6, 
0 44. Its chemical constitution is as yet unknown. It is harder 
and more elastic than cellulose, readily permeable by water, 
but not absorbent. It is more soluble in acids than is cellulose 
and is recognized by turning deep magenta when treated with 
phloroglucinoi in hydrochloric acid. 
As shown in the preceding pages, Coptotermes formosanus 
seriously injures all sorts of woodwork and wood products. 
However, why it attacks such materials or, in other words, what 
was the principal food of Coptotermes formosanus contained in 
wood was quite unknown. In order to settle this question the 
following experiments were made: 
Experiment 1 . — A living worker or soldier of Coptotermes 
formosanus was placed on a microscope slide, and the tip of 
its abdomen was pressed, the excrement being thus discharged. 
This was treated with phloroglucinoi in hydrochloric acid under 
a cover glass. The color changed to deep magenta, showing 
the characteristic reaction of lignin. 
Experiment 2 . — A piece of the nest was treated with the same 
reagent. It also gave a deep magenta coloration, characteristic 
of lignin. 
Experiment 3. — A piece of camphor wood and a nest of Copto- 
termes formosanus made from camphor wood were analyzed. 
Table VI. — Composition of camphor wood and of a nest of Coptotermes 
formosanus. Analyzed by T. Katayama. 
[Numbers give percentages.] 
Water. 
Ash. 
Aqueous 
extract. 
Pen- 
tosan. 
Cellulose. 
Noncel- 
lulose. 
Camphor wood _ _ 
11.51 
1.29 
4.53 
13.92 
48.35 
20. 40 
Nest 
Nest (calculated ae a substance 
11.39 
17. 86 
4.83 
6.02 
12. 73 
47. 17 
with no ash) 
13.87 
0. 00 
5.88 
7.33 
15.50 
57.42 
It is quite obvious that the amount of cellulose is the main 
difference between the constituents of the camphor wood and 
those of the nest. As there occurs no decrease of noncellulose, 
it is clear that cellulose has been taken as the food when the 
camphor wood passed through the alimentary canal; and non- 
cellulose, that is, lignin, which is produced as a decomposed 
material of lignocellulose by the special function of the alimen- 
tary canal, is discharged as the building material of the nest. 
