Science: The March North

The termites are on the move and gaining on man. Last year the wood-eating insects destroyed $250 million worth of U.S. property, more than the national loss from arson, tornadoes and lightning—and more than twice the damage the bugs did only a decade ago. Furthermore, encouraged by milder winters, termites are pushing steadily north, reports Dr. Thomas Elliott Snyder, 76, research associate of the Smithsonian Institution.

A spotted-wing species (hageni), which does 95% of the damage, has eaten its way up from Washington, D.C., to Trenton. N.J. A tiny Southern species, virginicus, has been found on the farthest tip of Long Island. Farther west, the hesperus termite has crossed the border into Canada.

In Europe, too, termites are marching inexorably north. French termites have moved from Bordeaux to Paris. After a long trek up the Italian boot, other termites are now dining on Venice’s peppermint-striped gondola hitching posts.

As much as the mild winters, man himself is to blame for the termites’ expansion north, says Snyder. “Advancing civilization disturbs the balance of nature,” he said last week, “by clearing land, destroying the natural breeding ground of termites in dead trees and plant roots. Naturally, they move to buildings, where they can work and eat the year round and go almost undetected.”