ON THE DESTRUCTION OF WOODWORK IN HOT CLIMATES BY THE TERMITE OR WHITE
ANT, WOOD-CUTTER, CARPENTER BEE, &c., AND THE MEANS OF PREVENTING THE
SAME.
Of the ant proper, or that belonging to the order _Hymenoptera_, there
are three species[24] in particular which attack timber, viz.:
1st. _Formica fuliginosa_, or black carpenter ant, which selects hard and
tough woods.
2nd. _Formica fusca_, or dusky ant, which prefers soft woods.
3rd. _Formica flava_, or yellow ant, which also prefers soft woods.
The carpenter bee prefers particular kinds of wood. In India it is very
fond of cadukai (_Tamil_) wood, which is often used for railway sleepers.
Round the holes it makes there is a black tinge, arising, probably, from
the iron in its saliva acting on the gallic acid of the timber. Providing
it meets with the wood it prefers, it is not very particular whether it
is standing timber, or the beams of a residence.
The termite, or white ant, is a terrible destroyer of wood in nearly
all tropical countries. There are many species of termite, and all are
fearfully destructive, being indeed the greatest pest of the country
wherein they reside. Nothing, unless cased in metal, can resist their
jaws; and they have been known to destroy the whole woodwork of a house
in a single season. They always work in darkness, and, at all expenditure
of labour, keep themselves under cover, so that their destructive labours
are often completed before the least intimation has been given. For
example, the termites will bore through the boards of a floor, drive
their tunnels up the legs of the tables or chairs, and consume everything
but a mere shell no thicker than paper, and yet leave everything
apparently in a perfect condition. Many a person has only learned the
real state of his furniture by finding a chair crumble into dust as he
sat upon it, or a whole staircase fall to pieces as soon as a foot was
set upon it. In some cases the termite lines its galleries with clay,
which soon becomes as hard as stone, and thereby produces very remarkable
architectural changes. For example, it has been found that a row of
wooden columns in front of a house have been converted into a substance
as hard as stone by these insects. In pulling down the old cathedral _at
Jamaica_, some of the timbers of the roof, which were of hard wood, were
eaten away, and a cartload of nests formed by the ants was removed, after
being cut away by great labour with hatchets.
The first indication of a house being attacked by ants in the tropics
is, perhaps, the yielding of a floor board in the middle of a room, or
the top hinge of a door suddenly leaving the frame to which it had been
firmly screwed a short time before.
That the ants provide for winter--as not only Dr. Bancroft and many
others, even King Solomon, reports--is found to be an error. Where there
is an ordinary winter, the ants lie dormant, during which torpid state
they do not want food.
The greater number of species belong to the tropical regions, where they
are useful in destroying the fallen trees that are so plentiful in those
latitudes, and which, unless speedily removed, might be injurious to the
young saplings by which they are replaced. Two species, however, are
known in Europe, namely, _Termes lucifugus_ and _Termes rucifollis_, and
have fully carried out their destructive character, the former species
devouring oaks and firs, and the latter preferring olives and similar
trees. _At La Rochelle_ these insects have multiplied so greatly as to
demand the public attention.
M. de Quatrefages, who visited one of the spots in which these
destructive insects had settled themselves, gives the following account
of their devastating energy: “The prefecture and a few neighbouring
houses are the principal scene of the destructive ravages of the
termites, but here they have taken complete possession of the premises.
In the garden not a stake can be put into the ground, and not a plank
can be left on the beds, without being attacked within twenty-four or
forty-eight hours. The fences put round the young trees are gnawed from
the bottom, while the trees themselves are gutted to the very branches.
“Within the building itself the apartments and offices are all alike
invaded. I saw upon the roof of a bedroom that had been lately repaired
galleries made by the termites which looked like stalactites, and
which had begun to show themselves the very day after the workmen left
the place. In the cellars I found similar galleries, which were either
half way between the ceiling and the floor, or running along the walls
and extending, no doubt, up to the very garrets, for on the principal
staircase other galleries were observed, between the ground floor and
the second floor, passing under the plaster wherever it was sufficiently
thick for the purpose, and only coming to view at different points where
the stones were on the surface, for, like other species, the termites of
La Rochelle always work under cover wherever it is possible for them to
do so. It is generally only by incessant vigilance that we can trace the
course of their devastations and prevent their ravages.
“At the time of M. Audoin’s visit a curious proof was accidentally
obtained of the mischief which this insect silently accomplishes. One
day it was discovered that the archives of the department were almost
totally destroyed, and that without the slightest external trace of any
damage. The termites had reached the boxes in which these documents were
preserved by mining the wainscoting, and they had then leisurely set to
work to devour these administrative records, carefully respecting the
upper sheets and the margin of each leaf, so that a box which was only
filled by a mass of rubbish seemed to enclose a file of papers in perfect
order.
“The hardest woods are attacked in the same manner. I saw on one of the
staircases an oak post, in which one of the clerks had buried his hand
up to the wrist in grasping at it for support, as his foot accidentally
slipped. The interior of the post was entirely formed of empty cells, the
substance of which could be scraped away like dust, while the layer that
had been left untouched by the termites was not thicker than a sheet of
paper.”
It is most probable that these insects had been imported from some
vessel, as they attacked two opposite ends of the same town, the centre
being untouched. M. de Quatrefages tried many experiments on these
insects with a view of discovering some method of destroying them, and
came to the conclusion that if _chlorine_ could be injected in sufficient
quantities, it would in time have the desired result.
The termite or white ant is represented by Linnæus as the greatest pest
of both Indies, because of the havoc they make in all buildings of wood,
in utensils, and in furniture. They frequently construct nests within
the roofs and other parts of houses, which they destroy if not speedily
extirpated. The larger species enter under the foundations of houses,
making their way through the floors and up the posts of buildings,
destroying all before them; and so little is seen of their operations
that a well-painted building is sometimes found to be a mere shell, so
thin that the woodwork may be punched through with the point of the
finger.
Many kinds of wood _in Brazil_[25] are impervious to the termite, which
insect generally selects the more porous woods, and especially if
these are in contact with the earth. In dry places, and with _a free
circulation of air_, it does not prefer timber thus situated; and it is
found that roofs of buildings of _good_ and well-seasoned native wood
resist for an indefinite period both the climate and the termite. As a
general rule, Brazilian timber is very brittle.
It shows the difference of effects between one climate and another, that
in Brazil the more porous and open-grained timbers are most subject to
the attacks of the white ant, especially if they are in contact with the
earth; but _in Australia_ it is the reverse, for there it is the hardest
description of timber that those insects first attack. There is one wood
in particular, in common use, to which this remark applies, namely, “Iron
Bark.” Its density is so great that it sinks in water, and its strength
is extraordinary, and yet the wood the white ants are particularly fond
of. In the West Indies, the ants prefer hard woods.
_At Bahia_, the timber is less affected by the termite than _in
Pernambuco_; but even in the latter place the white ant does not like dry
places with a free circulation of air.
Mr. Shields, when on a short visit to Pernambuco, examined some timber
bridges, and in one, which had only been constructed three years, he
found the ends of the timber had been placed in contact with the moist
clay; at those places he could readily knock off the crust of the wood,
and the interior of the wood was almost filled with white ants: the
decay was augmented by the contact of the wood with the moist clay.
We have been informed that timber for the Government works is stored
to the depth of about 1 foot 6 inches in the sea-sand, to protect it
from the white ants and the _teredo_; and that in Pernambuco, since the
establishment of the gas-works, the Brazilian engineers and constructors
“pay” over the ends of all timbers used in buildings with coal-tar.
_In Ceylon_, no timber--except ebony and ironwood, which are too hard;
palmyra, in _northern_ Ceylon; and those which are strongly impregnated
with camphor or aromatic oils, which they dislike--presents any obstacle
to their ingress. Sir Emerson Tennant, in his work on Ceylon, says: “I
have had a cask of wine filled, in the course of two days, with almost
solid clay, and only discovered the presence of the white ants by the
bursting of the corks. I have had a portmanteau in my tent so peopled
with them in the course of a single night that the contents were found
worthless in the morning. In an incredibly short time a detachment of
these pests will destroy a press full of records, reducing the paper to
fragments; and a shelf of books will be tunnelled into a gallery, if it
happened to be in their line of march.”
In Ceylon, the huts are plastered over with earth, which has been thrown
up by white ants, after being mixed with a powerful binding substance
(produced by the ants themselves), and through which the rain and
moisture cannot penetrate. This will hold the walls together when the
entire framework and the wattles have been eaten, or have become decayed.
_In the Philippine Islands_, ambogues, a strong, durable wood, suffers
much from the termites. Sir John Bowring, in his work on these islands,
thus writes of the ravages of the white ants in the town of Obando,
Province of Bulacan, Philippine Islands: “It appears that on the 18th
March, 1838, the various objects destined for the services of the
mass, such as robes, albs, amices, the garments of the priests, &c.,
were examined, and placed in a trunk made of the wood called ‘narra’
(_Pterocarpus palidus_). On the 19th they were used in the divine
services, and in the evening were restored to the box. On the 20th some
dirt was observed near it, and, on opening it, every fragment of the
vestments and ornaments of every sort were found to have been reduced to
dust, except the gold and silver lace, which were tarnished with a filthy
deposit. On a thorough examination not an ant was found in any other
part of the church, nor any vestige of the presence of these voracious
destroyers; but five days afterwards they were discovered to have
penetrated through a beam 6 inches thick.”
The red ant _in Batavia_ (north-west end of Java) is another devastator.
The red ant contains formic acid (acid of ants) and a peculiar resinous
oil. Thunberg[26] has found cajeput effectual in destroying the red ants
of Batavia: he used it to preserve his boxes of specimens from them. When
ants were placed in a box anointed with this oil, they died in a few
minutes.
_In Surinam_, Guiana, several species of worms are produced in the
palm-trees as soon as they commence to rot: they are called “groo-groo,”
and are produced from the spawn of a black beetle; they are very fat,
and grow to the size of a man’s thumb. The groo-groo will very quickly
destroy wood which has commenced to rot.
_In Surinam_, Captain Stedman[27] was obliged to drive nails into the
ceiling of his room, and hang his provisions from the nails; he then made
a ring of dry chalk around them, very thick, which crumbled down the
moment the ants attempted to pass it. In Guiana, the young ants will swim
across a small pool of water to get at sugar; some get drowned, the rest
get the sugar.
_In Japan_, according to Kœmpfer,[28] ants do considerable damage to wood.
_In Senegal_, the ant (_Termite belliqueux_) is a formidable agent of
destruction. In a season, all the carpentry of a house is destroyed by
them. Spartimann, in his ‘Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope,’[29] gives an
excellent account of their methods of working.
The _Termite lucifuge_ has been discovered in the environs of _Bordeaux_,
in the pine-trees; also in the marine workshops at _Rochefort_. It is
believed to have been imported from America.
The _Termite flavicole_, a few years since, attacked the olive-trees of
_Spain_, and it occasionally visits the centre of _France_.
White or yellow pine wood can only be used in the tropics for doors,
movable window frames, bodies of railway waggons, or other work intended
to be kept in motion. Its use even for these purposes is questionable, as
the white ant has such an affinity for it, that a door or a window which
has remained shut for a few weeks will almost invariably be attacked by
that insect.
North American pitch pine withstands very well the attacks of the
termite, when used in the roofs of buildings, or in any locality not
humid; but it is found after a time, when laid upon the earth, to lose
its resisting powers, as well as to become subject to rapid decay.
“Greenheart” timber in its natural state is proof against the attacks
of this insect in tropical climates--especially that known as the
“purple-heart” wood. There are two reasons why it enjoys this immunity
from attack: first, there is its great hardness; and, secondly, there
is the presence of a large quantity of essential oil. It is very hard
and durable wood; a little heavier than water. It is obtained at
Demerara.[30] Great care is required in working it, as it is very liable
to split. In sawing it is necessary to have all the logs bound tightly
with chains, failing which precaution the log would break up into
splinters, and be very apt to injure the men working it.
“Jarrah” wood, from Australia, is also proof against the attacks of the
white ant. It is occasionally liable to shakes.
“Panao” wood, from the Philippine Islands, gives the talay oil, which
destroys insects in wood.
“Bilian” wood is imported to Bombay, from Sarawak, Borneo. This wood is
impervious to the attacks of the termite, and does not decay when under
fresh or salt water, where it remains as hard as stone.
“Sál” wood, in India, is occasionally touched by the white ant. This
wood, however, requires two years to season, and it will twist, shrink,
and warp whenever the surface is removed, after many years’ seasoning.
Only about 2 lb. of creosote oil per cubic foot can be injected into
sál wood. “Kara-mardá” is avoided by this little insect; but when used
for planks it requires twelve to fifteen months’ previous seasoning.
“Neem-wood,” used for making carved images, enables an image to remain
undisturbed by the white ant.
The following is a list of woods which resist for a long time, if not
altogether, the attacks of the termites, or white ants:
ANT-RESISTING WOODS.
_America._--Butternut, pitch pine. (Pitch pine is sometimes
attacked.)
_Australia, Western._--Jarrah.
_Borneo._--Bilian.
_Brazil._--The sicupira assú, sicupira meirim, or verdadeiro,
sicupira acari, oiticira, gararoba, paó saulo, sapucaia de Pilao,
sapucarana, paó ferro, and imberiba, resist the white ant,
_except_ in the sapwood. The angelim amargozo, araroba, pitia,
cocâo, bordâo de Velha, ameira de Sertao, parohiba, cedro, louro
cheiroso, and louro ti, resist the white ant, _even_ in the
sapwood.
_Ceylon._--Ebony, ironwood, palmyra, jack, gal-mendora, paloo,
cohambe.
_Demerara._--Greenheart.
_Guiana, British._--Determa, cabacalli, kakatilly.
_India._--Cedar, sál, neem, kara mardá, sandal, erul, nux vomica,
thetgan, teak. (Ants will bore through teak to get at yellow
pine.)
_Indies, West._--Bullet wood, lignum vitæ, quassia wood.
_Pernambuco (Brazil)._--Maçaranduba (red), barubú (purple),
mangabevia de Viado.
_Philippine Islands._--Molave, panao.
_Tasmania._--Huon pine.
_Trinidad._--Sepe.
In piles of wooden sleepers which have been lying ready for use _in
India_ for about six months, at least 10 per cent. have been found
destroyed by ants. It has been supposed that the jarring motion of a
train on a railway would prevent the white ant from destroying the timber
sleepers; but there is reason to doubt this, from the fact that on an
examination of the ‘Hindostan’ steam vessel, a considerable portion
of her timber framing was found to be eaten away by that destructive
insect, particularly in the parts close to the engine and boilers, where
there had been the greatest amount of vibration. The telegraph posts are
particularly subject to their depredations so long as the timber is sunk
in the ground; but when a metallic socket is supplied, the wood is safe
from their visits. A further precaution is taken to preserve the lower
end of the post by running liquid dammer into the metallic sheath, so
that the enclosed part of the post is encased with a coating of resin.
The telegraph wires when covered with guttapercha (a vegetable substance)
are also liable to their attacks.
Numerous expedients have been suggested for getting rid of this
destructive insect, some of which have been successful, but the majority
only partially so.
In India, the timbers of a house infested with white ants are
periodically beaten to drive them away. Of course, this only succeeds for
a short time, as they soon return.
The salt vessels plying on the coast of India use oil of tar, and a
considerable quantity of castor-oil, mixed with cow-dung mortar, which,
while it adheres to the wood, is an effectual protection against ants
and rot. The earth oil, or Arracan oil, is considered as good as creosote
to protect wood from ants. It can be obtained at Moulmein and Rangoon, in
leathern bottles or skins, at about 6_d._ per gallon.
It used to be a practice _in the West Indies_ to destroy whole colonies
of ants which had built their nests either on trees or under the roofs of
houses, by shooting powdered arsenic out of a quill into an orifice made
into their covered ways, along which they ascended and descended from and
to the ground.
It has been estimated that the depredations of the white ant in India
costs the Indian Government 100,000_l._ a year, which is expended in
repairing the woodwork of houses, barracks, bridges, &c.
When Dr. Boucherie gave up his sulphate of copper process for the use
of the French public, he received _a national reward_. If the Indian
Government is disposed to give us _a national reward_, we could show how
it may save at least half the 100,000_l._ a year--which is expended in
repairing the damages done by the white ants--with little trouble.
In the Madras Presidency periodical inspections have to be made, not
only with regard to the white ant, but with respect to the presence and
subsequent germination of vegetable matter or seeds in the mortar. In
some instances, where proper precautions had not been taken, roots had
formed very rapidly, and of such great size as to bodily dislodge by
their pressure large stones from buildings. Therefore, to prevent this
germination, a proportion of “Jagherry,” or coarse native sugar, varying
from 2 per cent. in ordinary work, to from 5 per cent. to 8 per cent. in
arch work, is mixed with the lime.
In 1856, in consequence of the ravages of the white ants in the King’s
Magazine, Fort William, India, the flooring and powder racks had to
be reinstated. Captain A. Fraser, R.E., had the basement covered with
concrete, 4 lb. of yellow arsenic being added to every 100 cubic feet
of concrete. In the mortar used for the pillars arsenic was used in
the proportion of ½ lb. to every 100 cubic feet of brickwork; a small
quantity of arsenic was also mixed with the paint, and ½ lb. (four
chittacks) of arsenic was also mixed with every 100 superficial feet of
plaster. In 1859 the town mayor reported to the Government that no traces
of white ants had since been found either inside or outside the building.
Colonel Scott, when Acting Chief Engineer, Madras Presidency, reported to
the Government, December 24, 1858, that the following receipt was used
for exterminating white ants in the Madras Presidency, and was found to
be very successful:
lb. oz.
Arsenic 2 4
Aloes 2 4
Chunam soap 2 13 (common country soap).
Dhobies mud 2 8 (Khar).
Pound the arsenic and aloes, scrape the soap, mix with mud, and boil in a
large chatty half full of water until it bubbles; let it cool, and when
cold, fill up with cold water. The mixture should boil for nearly an
hour: it is applied as a wash.
The white ants of Calcutta are small in comparison with those of the
upper provinces.
Colonel Scott, Chief Engineer at Bombay, records instances of timber
being boiled under pressure in various antiseptic solutions, such as
sulphate of copper, arsenious acid, and corrosive sublimate, with
satisfactory results; but considerable apparatus is necessary, and the
expense forbids its use except in large public works. On the other hand,
in 1847, Mr. G. Jackson, being engaged under Mr. Rendel, C.E., on works
in India, tried several experiments with Mr. J. Bourne, in order to
test the possibility of preserving timber from the ravages of the white
ant. Ninety pieces of wood, 9 inches long by 4 inches square, saturated
according to the different processes of Burnet, Payne, and Margary,[31]
under the direction of the patentees themselves, were experimented upon,
in five situations, one with a considerable amount of moisture, and four
dry; through inadvertency Mr. Bethell’s specimens were only tested in the
dry positions. The result was, that where there was moisture the timber
was entirely destroyed, whilst where they were kept dry the result was
better, but still not satisfactory. It seems difficult to account for
these different results obtained by Colonel Scott and Mr. Jackson; but
evidently the same strength of solutions, and the same qualities and
descriptions of woods, cannot have been used by each gentleman.
Captain Mann and Captain McPherson painted the joists and planking of
several buildings at Singapore with _gambir composition_, and the result
was perfect success, although the buildings had been previously infested
with white ants. Gutta gambir is juice extracted from the leaves of
a plant of the same name (_Uncaria gambir_) growing in Sumatra, &c.,
inspissated by decoction, strained, suffered to cool and harden, and then
cut into cakes of different sizes, or formed into balls. Chief places
of manufacture, Siak, Malacca, and Bittany; gambir is now imported to
England to a slight extent. The gambir composition referred to is made
as follows: Dissolve three pints of gambir in twelve pints of dammer-oil
over a slow fire; then stir one part of lime, sprinkling it over the top
to prevent its coagulating and settling in a mass at the bottom; it must
be well and quickly stirred. It should then be taken out of the cauldron,
and ground down like paint on a muller till it is smooth, and afterwards
returned to the pot and heated. A little oil should be added to make
it tractable, and the composition can then be laid over the material.
To be treated with a common brush. Against the _Teredo navalis_ may be
substituted the same proportion of black varnish or tar for dammer-oil,
of course omitting the grinding down, which would not answer with tar.
Burnett’s chloride of zinc process is said to be a good preservative for
wood liable to be attacked by ants: the zinc penetrates to the heart of
the wood.
Creosoted timber, it is well known, resists the attacks of the white
ants; but the close grain of the generality of tropical timber renders
any attempt to creosote it all but useless. Of course, creosoted fir
timber could be, in fact is, exported from England, but the cost of
freight and other charges will always make it very expensive, and be a
great drawback to its general use abroad. Mr. J. C. Mellis, Engineer to
the Government of St. Helena, writes in very high terms of creosoted
timber as used there, where the white ant abounds. Between the years 1863
and 1866, experiments[32] were made with many specimens of woods (by
order of the Lieutenant-Governor), in order to find out those which would
resist the white ant. Teak remained uninjured; jarrah wood was partially
destroyed; while pitch-pine, oak, cedar, ash, elm, birch, beech, and
mahogany, were quite destroyed.
In Ceylon creosoted timber is not attacked by white ants, but the black
coating, if exposed, renders it so heat-absorbing, that it is apt to
split, and, unless thoroughly impregnated with the creosote, a road is
opened to the inside, and the ants will soon destroy all that part which
is unprotected.
Coal-tar will destroy white ants. Some years ago Mr. Shields took short
baulks of timber where the ants had commenced operations, and tried the
system of pouring a very small stream of coal-tar through the heart of
the timber which the ants had hollowed out, and afterwards splitting it
open to see the result. He found the white ants completely destroyed;
they were shrivelled up like shreds of half-burnt paper by the mere
effluvium of the coal-tar.
Creosoting is excellent for railway sleepers, piles, &c., but it will not
do for buildings, which the white ants prefer. It is objectionable for
dwellings; 1st, on account of its smell, which is disagreeable; 2nd, on
account of its colour, black, which is unsightly; 3rd, on account of its
inflammability.
With regard to the depredations of white ants, anything of a bitter taste
injected into the fibre of the wood prevents their attacks, though it may
not be so good as coal-tar; even a small quantity of turpentine has the
effect of killing them instantly. Carbolic acid has been used, but its
smell is objectionable. In South America, the leaves of the black walnut
are soaked in water for some hours, then boiled; and when the liquid
has cooled, it is applied to the skins of horses and other animals, to
prevent their being bitten or “worried” by insects. We do not know if
this has been used as a wash, or injected into wood, to prevent it being
“worried” by ants.
It thus appears that there is no remedy generally adopted in tropical
climates for preventing the depredations of the white ants; but there is
one method very frequently adopted in hot countries of getting rid of
them. It is a desperate remedy, we admit, but desperate cases frequently
require desperate remedies: it is simply by EATING THEM. Europeans have
pronounced the termites to be peculiarly delicate and well flavoured,
something like sweetened cream. The termites are prepared for the table
by various methods, some persons pounding them so as to form them
into a kind of soft paste, while others roast them like coffee-beans
or chestnuts. Termites, or white ants, are eaten by various African
tribes, both raw and boiled; and it is said that the Hottentots “get
into good condition on this diet.” In India, the natives capture great
quantities of these insects, which they mix up with flour, producing a
kind of pastry, which is purchased at a cheap rate by the poorer classes.
In Ceylon, bears feed on the termites. Some of the Africans prepare
large quantities of them for food, by parching them in kettles over a
slow fire; in this condition they were eaten by handfuls as delicious
food. The traveller Smeathman states that he often ate them dressed in
this way, and found them to be “delicate, nourishing, and wholesome,
resembling in flavour sugared cream, or sweet-almond paste.” In Brazil,
the yellow ants are eaten by many persons. Humboldt states that in some
of the South American countries ants are mixed with resin and eaten as
a sauce. In Siam, ants’ eggs are considered a luxury; they are sent to
the table curried, or rolled in green leaves mingled with fine slices
or shreds of fat pork. In Sweden, ants are distilled along with rye to
give a flavour to the inferior kinds of brandy. Chemists have ascertained
that ants secrete a pleasant kind of vinegar, or a peculiar acid, called
formic acid.
In Brazil, however, the eating process goes on extensively as follows:
1st. Ants eat the wood.
2nd. Ant-eaters eat the ants.
3rd. Woodsmen eat the ant-eaters.
4th. Wild animals eat the woodsmen.
Teak-oil, extracted from teak chips, was, in 1857, recommended by a
Mr. Brown to the Government of St. Helena, through the Government of
Madras. Timber coated with this oil, as reported to the Secretary to the
Government of Madras by the several executive engineers of the Public
Works Department, even when placed in a nest of white ants, was not
touched by them. The cost of this oil, in certain experiments made by
order of the Madras Government, in 1866, was reported to be 6¾ annas for
1¼ ounce, which is too expensive. In the central provinces the cost would
be 1¼ anna per quart.[33]
In the East Indies there are several species of wood-cutter (_Xylocopa_)
and carpenter bee (_Xylocopa_), which confine their ravages to the wood
after it has been felled. The wood-cutter tunnels through the beams and
posts of buildings, which they frequent in great numbers. The passages
are from 12 to 15 inches long, and more than half an inch in diameter. If
the insects are numerous, their ravages are dangerously destructive, and
they soon render beams unsafe for supporting the roof.
The carpenter bee of Southern Africa is one of those curious insects
which construct a series of cells in wood. After completing their
burrow, which is open at each end, they close the bottom with a flooring
of agglutinated sawdust, formed of the morsels bitten off during the
operation of burrowing, lay an egg upon this floor, insert a quantity of
“bee-bread,” made of the pollen of flowers and their juices, and then
cover the whole with a layer of the same substance that was used for
the floor. Upon this is laid another egg, another supply of bee-bread
is inserted, and a fresh layer of sawdust superimposed. Each layer is
therefore the floor of one cell and the ceiling of another, and the
insect makes on the average about ten or twelve of these cells.
The carpenter bee destroys the woodwork of buildings in the north of
Ceylon, but in the south of the island woodwork has two enemies to
contend against, viz. the porcupine and a little beetle. The porcupine
destroys many of the young palm-trees, and the ravages of the cocoa-nut
beetle (_Longicornes_) are painfully familiar to the cocoa-nut planters.
The species of beetle, called by the Singalese “cooroominya,” is very
destructive to timbers. It also makes its way into the stems of the
younger trees, and after perforating them in all directions, it forms
a cocoon of the gnawed wood and sawdust, in which it reposes during
its sleep as a pupa, till the arrival of the period when it emerges as
a perfect beetle. Mr. Capper relates that in passing through several
cocoa-nut plantations, “varying in extent from twenty to fifty acres, and
about two to three years old, and in these I did not discover a single
young tree untouched by the cooroominya.”
[Illustration: _Carpenter Bees “at work”._]
Sir E. Tennant thus writes of the operations of the carpenter bee on
the wooden columns of the Colonial Secretary’s official residence, at
Kandy, Ceylon: “So soon as the day grew warm, these active creatures were
at work perforating the wooden columns which supported the verandah.
They poised themselves on their shining purple wings, as they made the
first lodgment in the wood, enlivening the work with an uninterrupted
hum of delight, which was audible to a considerable distance. When the
excavation had proceeded so far that the insect could descend into it,
the music was suspended, but renewed from time to time, as the little
creature came to the orifice to throw out the chips, to rest, or to enjoy
the fresh air. By degrees a mound of sawdust was formed at the base of
the pillar, consisting of particles abraded by the mandibles of the bee;
and these, when the hollow was completed to the depth of several inches,
were partially replaced in the excavation, after being agglutinated to
form partitions between the eggs, as they are deposited within.”
Fortunately in England the owner of a house has no opportunity
of watching (“with an uninterrupted hum of delight, audible to a
considerable distance”) the operations of the carpenter bee, on the
wooden beams and posts of his building.
We must now _consider the ways_ of the wood-beetle, which will be found
described in the next chapter, and only write a few words before closing
this. A modern engineer is no sluggard, of that we are certain; but if
he intends erecting large buildings in any of the places abroad which we
have referred to, he will find it very necessary to pay particular notice
of the following words of King Solomon:
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; _consider her ways_, and be wise.”
Proverbs vi. 6.