Termite Attacks on Wood Display — Boone 
the racks have been displayed or stored in vari- 
ous parts of Honolulu, always in areas accessi- 
ble to dry- wood termites. 
Almost nothing is known about the resistance 
of many Hawaii-grown woods to dry-wood 
termite attack. All observations that may give 
some indication of differences in resistance are 
desirable. These display racks gave us such an 
opportunity for samples of 76 wood species. 
Woods for the display were collected 
throughout the islands by J. F. Rock, territorial 
botanist. The racks were built of koa. Each rack 
held 30 specimens (Fig. 1). Each specimen 
measured 1 by 5 by 12 inches. The bark was 
exposed on one edge. The specimens were 
mounted with metal rods, extending about 1/2 
inch into the top and bottom, allowing them to 
rotate in the rack. A label on the sample showed 
the common and scientific names. Of the origi- 
nal 90 wood samples, 79 specimens, including 
76 species, are still labeled and identifiable. 
Only 2 specimens are missing, and 9 others have 
lost their name plates (Fig. 1). 
In 1965 each specimen block was carefully 
inspected from all sides and all angles. They 
were not removed from the rack nor were cuts 
made in them. In two specimens the termites 
were still active. No information is available 
as to the age of any colony or how quickly an 
infested specimen was damaged. 
Termite attack was arbitrarily divided into 
four classifications: none (no holes) ; occasional 
(1-3 holes) ; moderate (3-10 holes) ; and 
severe (completely riddled, in some only a 
shell left). There was no difficulty in deciding 
on the proper category for a given sample. 
Of the 79 specimens, only 25 were attacked 
by the dry-wood termites (Table 1). Of these, 
only 7 were severely attacked, 4 had moderate 
attack, and 14 had occasional attack. The re- 
maining 54 specimens were not attacked. 
In some instances, the attack or lack of it 
was not in keeping with published data or local 
experience. Koa, for example, is known to be 
subject to attack, and the koa racks were in- 
fested. But only 1 of the 3 samples of koa 
showed attack. On the other hand, ohia is be- 
527 
lieved to be resistant, and yet the sample of 
ohia showed an occasional attack. 
Termite attacks were found more often in 
those samples that fitted rather tightly in the 
frame, that is, they touched the frame at either 
the top or bottom. But several samples that fitted 
snugly were not attacked. Because all samples 
originally had bark, there was equal opportu- 
nity for termites to enter between the bark and 
sapwood. 
An attempt to segregate attacks as being in 
sapwood or heartwood was unsuccessful. Many 
of the samples had no heartwood owing to the 
smallness of the tree from which they came. 
On most of the light colored woods it was im- 
possible to separate heartwood and sapwood 
owing to discoloration from weathering. 
Quite likely this may be the only record of 
dry-wood termite resistance for many of these 
species in Hawaii. Although these samples have 
not been observed periodically over the years 
for termite damage, their exposure for more 
than 50 years in areas known to have dry- wood 
termites should provide some definite signs of 
their susceptibility to insect attack. A controlled 
experiment would be a more desirable way of 
studying this problem, but it is doubtful that 
this will be done because many of these tree 
species have little or no economic value. 
REFERENCES 
Bryan, L. W., and Clyde M. Walker. 1962. 
A provisional check list of some common 
native and introduced forest plants in Hawaii. 
U. S. Forest Serv. Pacific Southwest Forest 
and Range Expt. Sta. Misc. Paper 69 , 36 pp. 
Hunt, G. M., and G. A. Garrett. 1953. 
Wood Preservation. McGraw-Hill Book Co., 
New York. 417 pp., figs. 
Neal, M. C. 1948. In Gardens of Hawaii. B. 
P. Bishop Museum Spec. Publ. 40, Honolulu, 
Hawaii. 805 pp., figs. 
Wolcott, G. N. 1946. A list of woods ar- 
ranged according to their resistance to the 
attack of the West Indian dry-wood termite 
Cryptotermes brevis. Caribbean Forester 
7(4) : 3 29-3 34. 
