At the 26th IRG conference, we reported that steamed Japanese larch heartwood samples were suffered a serious attack by subterranean termite, Coptotermes formosanus both in choice and no-choice feeding tests. This is possibly caused by the yield of termites stimulants in the wood samples resulting from the steaming process. Since the steaming heat treatment has often been applied to other several timber species for their drying, dimensional stabilisation, etc., attention should be paid to them on the stimulant effects of this treatment on termite attack. This paper deals with the results of choice and no choice feeding tests of termites using steamed or dry-heated samples of wood for commercial use in Japan. Some steamed wood species were heavily attacked by C. formosanus or Reticulitermes speratus while all dry-heated samples were not attacked more than unheated controls.

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