198 
this way the gradual moistening of masses of wood was avoided, 
and the ants seem now to have completely disappeared from these 
basement rooms. 
Injuries to Vegetation .—Three cases of injuries to apple roots 
were reported to me ia August, 1891, from Carbondale, by Mr. G. 
H. French, of the Southern Illinois Normal School. Two of these 
trees had recently died, and it was not certain that they had been 
infested by the ants while still alive; but the third tree was still 
living, although not vigorous. 
As far back as 1881 I received from Mr. Benjamin Buckman, of 
Farmingdale, Sangamon county, Ill., some pieces of the wood of a 
cultivated pecan tree, taken from below the surface of the ground, 
which were thoroughly honeycombed by termites. My correspond¬ 
ent reported that he had several trees killed in this manner, the 
tree appearing sound on the surface, but breaking off in the wind. 
Miscellaneous Notes .—An instance of the association of these 
termites with a common species of red ant (Formic a schaufussi) 
was reported by Mr. Marten, May, 1887. On turning over a log 
on the ground, near Oarterville, in Mason county, he disturbed a 
nest of these red ants, and found also termites abundant in the 
log. The ants at once began carrying off the latter in great num¬ 
bers, picking them up alive and hurrying them into their subter¬ 
ranean burrows as they do. 
Among a lot of white ants collected at the State House, in 
Springfield, October 9, 1892, and kept in my insectary until Feb¬ 
ruary of the following year, an outbreak of “gray museardine” oc¬ 
curred, characterized by the parasitic fungus Entomophthora aphi- 
dis. This attack killed a considerable number of the colony, but 
not all. These ants burrowed freely in buried wood provided 
them for the purpose, making tunnels with external openings sim¬ 
ilar to those above described. 
In another lot, brought in from the woods at White Heath, 
Piatt county, October 18, 1892, and kept iu the insectary under 
conditions favorable to their maintenance, an outbreak of another 
parasite appeared—the com moo fungus of white museardine, Sporo- 
trichum globuliferum. This was probably the result of an acci¬ 
dental infection in the insectary itself, as chinch-bug experiments 
with this fungas were in progress there at the time. 
PREVENTION AND REMEDY. 
Buildings are not liable to injury by white ants if they rest 
throughout on brick or stone foundations unless door frames or 
window frames in foundation or basement stories are exposed 
continuously to moisture. As the auts prefer moist wood, they 
seem never to establish themselves iu buildings where the wood¬ 
work is usually dry throughout. Where timbers are set in the 
ground they may doubtless be protected by the treatment usual 
as a preventive of decay, especially if any of the creosote prepara¬ 
tions or other tarry substances are used for this purpose. 
