The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-01-26
THE SALT LAKE HERALD: SUNDAY JANUARY 2e 1908

! soil tunnels are extended so far and so
rapidly that colony established at the
roots Of the sunflower. lucern or sage
brush will soon extend far and near
over the ground. So assiduously do
they build their covered roadways that
by means of the galleries from one
plant to another an entire acre has
been known to be covered by a single
colony. In the nests encountered here
we do not find the primary forms OF
| king and queen. What we do find is
certain workers that have been changed
into secondary kings and queens. Like
true kings and queens they perpetuate
the species. but these transformed neu-
tiers do ot>produce eggs so rapidly as
do the primary kings and queens, after
their nuptial flight. The change of
workers into parents is probably eff
fected by methods Of superior feeding
which develop the neuters; but the pre-
else facts have not been ascertained.
II is from eighteen to twenty-three
months from the time the eggs are laid
before these strange creatures reach
maturity.
In Utah these ants swarm in May
and June; in California they swarm be-
tween October and June. Our common
species is Termes lucifugus.
The Tropical Termites.
The especial celebrity of these ami
mails is due to their development and
prowess In the tropics.
The African forms were the first de-
scribed. The tropical or warrior termite
called Termes bellicosus constructs not
only covered roadways. but congregates
and builds nest mounds. These termite
villages compare in size with the hu-
man habitations of many parts of Afri-
ca. In fact, seen from distance they
resemble the huts of African villages.
In this species there is great disparity
in the size of soldiers and workers, the
former being fifteen times the size of
the latter, while the queen, as before
mentioned, may be of such enormous
size as compared with the workers that
she is thousands of times larger. In all
these vast colonies, ii is curious fact
that there is only a single king and
queen; so that if in any of these great
communities these parents are de-
| strOyed, they cannot be replaced except
| by feeding up some of the workers.
Termites take animal food to some
extent. but they prefer wood. They
have the strange habit of eating over
| and over again the same food. 1t is
found that the dejecta are repeatedly
eaten by them till it contains no longer
any nutriment in the form of cellulose.
Proctodeal food is the name given to 1t.
! They secrete a kind of saliva that is
eagerly sought by younger members OF
the community. This is called stomo-
deal food. 1t is regurgitated from the
bodies of the adults as food for the i'm
mature larvae. They waste nothing. A
large part of the excrement is used Il
line the inside OF the galleries, giving
them a sort Of varnish and cementins
the Enclosures more firmly together.
Owing to the ravages of this insect
telegraph poles in Central America fal
in an incredibly short time. In Soutt
Africa (RhOdesia) Rev. A. Leboue
says ii is no uncommon thing for th'
colOnist, on returning from his day.
labor, to find the coat he left hangin;
on a nail on his cottage wall and tn,
books on the table absolutely de
stroyed by these tiny maurauders. "Ol
awakening next morning, you are as
tOnished to see in the dim light a cone
shaped object rising from the bricl
floor a short distance from your bed
: with two holes on the top like tn
, crater of a miniature volcano. Upol
closer examination you discover tina
the holes have just the size and shap
/, of the inside of your boots, which yol
J incautioUsly left on the brick floor tn
} night before. They have given form