199 . 
Libraries and store-rooms for boots and papers are also little 
likely to become infested if everything abont them b kept per¬ 
fectly dry. Bookcases in basement rooms should not be allowed 
to touch the wall, and should be lifted from the floor on short 
legs or small block supports. If the points of contact with the 
floor could be made of metal, this would secure complete immu¬ 
nity. In transferring stored records and books in old cases from 
one building to another, the woodwork and the contents of the 
cases should be inspected, as a little carelessness at this point 
may result in the introduction of library pests capable of doing- 
enormous damage, especially in large public collections, before 
their presence is detected. These pests are readily killed by fumi¬ 
gation by methods presently to be described. 
Injuries to vegetation by white ants are so rare that methods 
of prevention need hardly be discussed. 
When buildings are so slightly infested that the damage already 
done is insignificant, it can be arrested by destroying the ants 
themselves by the use of fluids or vapors fatal to them. Gaso¬ 
line is perhaps the most convenient and serviceable of these, 
although of course it must be used with caution, Hnd sometimes 
cannot be applied thoroughly enough to effect the purpose. Ker¬ 
osene or benzine may be used instead of gasoline. Carbon bisul¬ 
phide will sometimes be found practically useful, especially as it 
is a highly volatile fluid, and the vapor into which it is rapidly 
converted is itself deadly to the ants. As this vapor is heavier 
than air, this fluid should be poured on or into infested struc¬ 
tures at the highest point. This also must be used with caution, 
as it is both a poisonous and explosive substance. The fumes of 
burning sulphur, chlorine gas, and nitrous-acid gas are all fatal 
to these pests. For ordinary use the first will be found the most 
convenient, as the sulphur may be burned in a closed vessel with 
a spout through which the gases of combustion can be thoroughly 
introduced. 
If plants become infested, applications of hot water or of kero¬ 
sene emulsion vill commonly be found the most convenient. They 
must be very freely used to saturate the infested tissues and to 
kill the ants in their burrows around about. Indeed in all cases 
a thoroughgoing search of the whole vicinity is necessary, to be 
followed up by a free application of suitable insecticides wherever 
traces of the insects appear. 
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF ECONOMIC ARTICLES CONSULTED. 
1837. 
Kollar, Y.—Naturgeschichte der schadlichen Insekten, p. 411. 
Contains description of Termes flavipes and refers to injuries 
in hothouses at Schonbrunn and Vienna. Contains original de¬ 
scription of Termes flavipes and an account of injury in 1837 to 
hothouses in Schonbrunn belonging to the Emperor of Austria. 
