PRELIMINARY NOTE ON ANOTHER WHITE ANT 
CAUSINC DAMAGE TO NEW CLEARINGS. 
Some cases have recently been brought to the notice of the 
Department of Agriculture, F.M.S., Kuala Lumpur, in which Ter men 
carbonarius has been found killing newly planted stumps by stripping 
them of their bark. 
Up to the present this has only been noticed on old tapioca 
estates. 
These termites were previously considered harmless an.d it is 
important to find out as soon as possible how far their ravages have 
been noticed elsewhere. 
Termes carbonarius may be distinguished from other “ White 
Ants ” or Termites, as they are more correctly called, by the large 
size and sooty colouring of the soldiers. 
The soldiers of this species are of two kinds ; the larger over half 
an inch long including the mandibles or nippers, which can inflict an 
unpleasant bite; the smaller, about three eighths of an inch. 
The mandibles are curved upwards to the tips and do not possess 
teeth between the base and the tip. 
The Queen is as large as that of Termes Malayanus, attaining a 
length of one and three quarter inches. These Termites are often 
found in the same nest as Termes sulphureus, the little sulphur yellow 
species, which lives in hard cased mounds sometimes five feet high. 
The queen of T. sulphureus averages only one and a quarter inch in 
length, 
Termes sulphureus and carbonarius are both described in books as 
harmless being fungus (or “ mould ”) eaters. The fungus grows on 
cakes or masses of vegetable matter which are stored in specia 
chambers in the nest. 
Up to now analyses of these masses have failed to show any 
traces of rubber, but further samples are wanted for analysis with 
notes of the depth at which they are found, as those examined may 
only have been collected by Termes sulphureus. 
If Termes carbonarius makes a separate nest, it has not yet been 
described. 
The stumps are reported to be attacked at night and in the early 
morning after and during rainy weather. 
This would be a dangerous pest to young estates, but for the fact 
that the nest of Termes sulphureus, which it inhabits, is easily found 
on well weeded estates and the inmates, both sulphureus and carbonarius, 
can be easily killed with the fumes of arsenic and sulphur applied 
through the nozzle of the Universal White Ant Exterminator. 
