Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1903-07-18
RUIN WORKED BY INSECT.
Interesting Discovery Made by EA-
tOmOIOgists of the Government
Agricultural Department,


ment of agriculture was stored an ac-
emulation of records and documents,
says the Washington Post. One of the
janitOrs was seized with an inclination
to give the vault spring airing. To
his dismay he discovered that an in
sect of some description had dug
trenches in long, straight rows
through certain sections CT the rec
ords piled high in the vaults, while in
other sections there were caves and
deep mines. When exposed for a short
time to the air the records crumbled
and fell in hopeless ruin.
Entomologists Of the department
rid their homes of reaches and bed
bugs. Farmers had been carefully
coached in the latest methods Of de-
stroying chinch bugs. Science had
practically annihilated the calico-back
cabbage bug and the ladybug gave
promise of destroying the San Jose
scale. But here within the walls of
the department. an insect had attacked
and vanquished the musty records
which told how other pests were to be
destroyed.
white ants have done it," shouted
the janitor.
st is the work of termes favides,"
said Z. S. Marlatt, widely known as the
destroyer of insects. Both were cor
rect.
The white ant is the most destr uctive
OF all insects. In the merry month of
May the mother fourishes from the
Atlantic to the Pacific. In more south
erly regions it is at it's best in April
Houses crumble and fall and their own
ers know not why. It is the work of
the janitor's white ant and Mr.. Mar
latt's termes favides. "Our records
are not complete" said Mr. Marlatt, in
explanation, "but we know that an &C.
emulation of books and papers owned
by the state of Illinois was entirely
ruined by what you have called white
ants. A library in South Carolina, left
closed for the summer, was as COM
plete a wreck in the fall as our OVID
volumes III the adjoining vault. Hum
boldt accounts for the rarity of old
books in New Spain by the destructive
work of these insects. The flooring of
one Of the sections of the United
States national museum was for sew
eral years annually undermined and
weakened by these insects and the
colony could not be located. It was
finally necessary to replace the wood
en- floors with cement
When all other recommendations
fail the only resource, according to
Mr.. Marlatt, is to replace flooring with
cement and stone.
The term white ant" Mr.. Marlatt
insists, is misnomer. The white ant
is not an ant at all. It's social habits
are much the same as those of other
ants, but it is allied to the dragon
flies and May flies. In their swarm,
ing or nuptial flight the white ants
come out in pairs. If one of these
pairs succeed in finding a decayed
stump or moist unabridged diction-
airy, before the season is over white
ants are reproduced at the rate of
something like $4,000 day. Race sui
eide is not one of the sins of the ant
family. White ants contrive to get
along even without queen What
the entomologists call supplemental
queen, one that is never winged and
never leaves the colony, always comes
forward to replenish the species.
Mr.. Marlatt says that the greatest
protection against these insects is per-
feet dryness. The presence of flying
termites in the spring should be fol-
lowed by an imme diate and persistent
hunt for the colony. If the colony is
found about the house steam or hot
water should at once be literally used
and, if necessary, an entire floor re-
moved, in order to expose the insects
to attack. Better than hot water or
steam is kerosene or some other pe-
trole1m oil. Where f1oorings and un-
derpinning or books and papers are
badly infested and wholesale treat
ment becomes imperative hydrocyanic
acid gas Immigration is urged.