io J.VTS. 



n'ujcr), whose little crater- are often extremely abundant over great 

 Mi-etches of country in the northern hemisphere, and the large species 

 of .///</ in tropical America, may he cited as conspicuous examples of 

 the ants that arc constantly engaged in renewing the soil. 



There are a number of more trivial but interesting ways in which 

 ants prove themselvrs u>eful to man. Young naturalists have often 

 emploved them for skeletonizing small vertebrates and cleaning birds' 

 eggs by placing these objects near or in their nests. In Europe 

 the cocoons of the fallow ant have long been carefully collected for 

 bird-food. Many years, ago the formic acid expressed and distilled 

 from the workers of the same species held a prominent place in the 

 pharmacopoeia. In the Western States and in Mexico garments are 

 sometimes freed from vermin by placing them on the large hills of 

 Formica and Pogonomyrmex. Mr. Hatcher found the Occident ant of 

 the plains {Pogonomyrmex occidentalism very useful to the collector 

 in bringing to the surface the teeth of small fossil mammals. A few 

 species, like the honey-ants of the Southwest (Mynnccoc vstns mclliger ) 

 are used by the Indians for food and medicinal purposes. The huge 

 heads of the soldiers of the South American leaf-cutting ants (Atta 

 cephalotes ) have been employed by the native surgeons in closing 

 wounds. After the two edges of the wound have been brought together 

 and have been grasped by the mandibles, the ant's head is severed from 

 its body and left as a ligature. 



Leaving out of consideration many of our ants as economically 

 indifferent, there nevertheless remains a considerable number of species 

 decidedly injurious to man and to the products of his toil. Most promi- 

 nent among these are the house-ants, almost without exception small 

 species that conceal their teeming formicaries in the woodwork and 

 masonry of ships and dwellings and forage on the saccharine and olea- 

 ginous substances in kitchens, pantries and storerooms. These species 

 are nearly all of tropical origin, and some of them, like Pharaoh's ant 

 (Monomorium pliaraonis), have been carried by commerce to all the 

 inhabited regions of the globe. Other species, like Monomorium 

 destructor. Pheidole nicc/accphala, Tetrainoriiun giiineense, T. siinilli- 

 Prenolepis longiconiis. Iridomyrmex lininilis and Plagiolepis 

 , though abundant about dwellings in the tropics, are unable 

 to survive in temperate regions except in hot-houses. Only two of 

 our native species, the tiny thief-ant (Solenopsis molcsta) and the car- 

 penter ant (Camponotus pennsylvanicus} ,have become house ants since 

 the settlement of North America. In its native haunts the latter 

 species nests in decayed wood. It preserves this habit as a house ant 

 and often does considerable damage to beams and rafters. 



