226 
climates, dfsfri>vin<*all articles of furniture mndeof wood, rl.ith-cs. c.. i>nd even entering tin- foundations o 
houses and rating out tin- whole interior f tin- timbers, so that while they appear p-rfectly sound externally, 
they will fall to pieces under the slightest blow. . . . The Termites generally make their approaches to 
the nest under ground, descending below the foundations of houses and stores at several feet from the surface, 
and rising again either in the floors or entering at the bottoms of the posts of which the sides of the buildings 
are composed, following the course of the fibres to the top, and having lateral perforations or cavities 
here and there. While some of them are employed in gutting the posts, others ascend froniithem, entering 
a rafter or some other part .of the roof, in search, as would seem, of thatch, which appears to be their favourite 
t""il : and if they find it, they bring up wet clay, and build galleries through the roof in various directions, 
as long as it will support, them. In this manner a wooden house is speedily destroyed ; and all that it 
contains is. at the same time, subjected to the ravages of these destructive insects. 
In carrying on this business they sometimes find, by some means or other, that the post has a certain 
weight to support, and then, if it is a convenient track to the roof, or is itself a kind of wood agreeable to 
them, they bring their mortar; and, as fast as they take away the wood, replace the vacancy with that 
material, which they work together more closely and compactly than human strength or art could ram it. 
Hence, when the house is taken to pieces, in order to examine if any of the posts are fit to be used again. 
those made of the softer kinds of wood are often found reduced almost to a shell ; and almost all of them 
are found transformed from wood to clay, as solid and as hard as many kinds of stone that are used for the 
purposes of building. . (Treasury of Natural History.) 
The above is taken from an account of Termes bellicosus, but the description 
more or less applies to other .species. For an account of the life-history of Termes see 
the book above quoted, also Cassettes Natural History, vi, 137, which is adorned with 
some splendid illustrations of this genus. See also appendix to Carpenter's Zoology. 
Since the above was written, the results of Dr. E. Mjoberg's Swedish Scientific 
Kxpeditions to Australia have been published (No. 19, Isoptera) in the Arkiv for Zoolcgi 
(Stockholm, 1920), which much extends out knowledge of Australian white ants. 
Family Phasmidae (Stick or Leaf Insects.) 
The late William Macleay published a paper " On a species of the Phasmatidae 
destructive to Eucalypts" (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., vi, 536) and named it Podocanthus 
Wilkinson! . The insect came from the vicinity of the Binda Caves, county of West- 
moreland, N.S.W. . . . " he had found these insects in amazing numbers in that 
locality; that the trees for miles around were completely denuded of leaves, and that 
the dead and dying insects were lying beneath the trees almost in heaps." The question 
of the destruction of. Eucalypts by this and allied insects was discussed, for " it is rare 
in any part of the country in the summer season to find a gum tree without a few of 
these insects grazing on it." 
For a figure and further particulars, see Froggatt's " Australian Insects." 
Family Gryllidae. 
Mr. W. W. Froggatt (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xvi, 8, 1891) exhibited some 
loppers which had been taken near Sydney, frequenting the flowers of E. corym* 
bosa, in order to capture the common honey bees (Apis mettifica) visiting the flowers. 
