182 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. XXIX, No. 4 
for 25 years or more. There is a well- 
defined division of labor among work¬ 
ers, soldiers, and reproductive forms; 
all castes are polymorphic. 
ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE 
Termites are very destructive to the 
crops, habitations, and other works of 
man and cause millions of dollars worth 
of damage. The greatest usefulness 
of termites is in reducing wood to 
humus and turning over and aerating 
the soil. They hasten the decompo¬ 
sition of organic matter such as dead 
trees, decaying logs, and stumps, thus 
enriching the soil. In the tropics of 
Africa and India termites plow and 
harrow the soil in their burrowings 
underground, and vegetation taken as 
food by termites passes through their 
bodies to enrich the soil. By their 
subterranean excavations, also, the 
soil is kept in the constant circulation 
so conducive to proper productiveness. 
Without the angleworms or earth¬ 
worms, ants, and termites, the soil 
might become barren and incapable 
of supporting human life. 
Although the motivations in the 
termite colony life are hunger, sex, and 
fear, there are evidences that the 
workers regulate the life of the colony 
and are the “spirit of the colony,” 
as Maeterlinck has so aptly termed 
the guiding force of colony life in the 
bee. Some of the actions of the 
workers, however, can not be attributed 
to these impulses alone, as, for example, 
the seasonal slaughter of certain types 
of reproductive forms. There is a defi¬ 
nite selective process in these killings 
which apparently works out for the 
welfare of colony life. 
FOOD 
Cellulose is the chief food of termites 
and this is obtained not only from 
living vegetation (living trees, roots, 
etc.) but also from dead vegetation as 
dead trees, plants, paper, etc. Recent 
investigations by Cleveland have shown 
that most termites have protozoa 
in the intestinal tract and these act as 
enzymes in the digestion of this 
cellulose. Most termites of the family 
Termitidae, however, do not have 
protozoa in the intestinal tract although 
their food is in general similar to that of 
other termites. 
INSECT ENEMIES 
Ants are the greatest insect enemies 
of termites and yet certain species of 
ants are pacific toward termites and 
live in their nests, although in separate 
galleries. No internal insect parasites 
of termites have been found and possi¬ 
bly this is due to the fact that termites 
have no resting stage (as immobile 
larvae or pupae) and the young or 
nymphs are constantly active, except 
for short molting periods or quiescent 
stages. 
ANIMAL PREDATORS 
A great variety of odd and specially 
adapted animals prey on termites. 
The most interesting of these are the 
anteaters, and America contains several 
species of these peculiar mammals, 
the largest of which is Myrmecophaga 
tridactyla Linnaeus. Dr. W. M. Mann 
found another species, Cyclopes didac- 
tylus Linnaeus, a small, golden-yellow 
arboreal animal, feeding on termites in 
Bolivia. A larger species, Tamandua 
tetradactyla Linnaeus (PI. 2, A, B), also 
arboreal, preys on termites and often 
rare species of termites, ants, and 
inquilines are found in the stomachs 
of these anteaters if they are killed 
before the stomach contents are di¬ 
gested. 
DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES OF 
TERMITES AND HITHERTO UN¬ 
KNOWN CASTES OF KNOWN 
SPECIES 
Kalotermes panamae, new species. 
Soldier. —Head yellowish-brown, 
darker anteriorly, over twice as long as 
broad, broadest posteriorly, slightly 
narrower anteriorly, sides parallel 
(slightly concave in middle), a chi- 
tinized projection or knob between 
antennal socket and postclypeus, head 
with very dense fairly long hairs; 
eye spot hyaline, elongate, suboval, 
parallel to front of head, epicranial 
suture on slope of front of head, where 
there is a slight depression; labrum 
rounded (broadly) at apex. Gula 
one-half as wide at middle as at front. 
Mandibles blackish, base reddish 
brown, broad at base, incurved at 
apex; left mandible with two prom¬ 
inent pointed teeth near apex and 
three smaller teeth nearer base; right 
mandible with two prominent teeth 
near base (fig. 3). 
Antennae yellowish, third segment 
castaneous, of 14 segments, with long 
hairs; third segment subclavate, ap¬ 
proximately as long as fourth and 
fifth segments together; last segment 
slender and subelliptical. 
Pronotum yellowish, margin darker, 
as broad as head, broader than long 
(variable in size), broadly emarginate 
