424 MORRIS M. WELLS 



side of the problem has not, as yet, received much attention at 

 the hands of the economic entomologist, who for the most part, 

 finds that he must look for results rather than causes and 

 explanations. 



Gibson (9) states that one or two applications of sodium 

 fluoride, dusted in cracks, etc., will cause the species Camponotus 

 pennsylvanica and Cremastogaster lineolata to leave an infested 

 house. The author believes, but has not demonstrated, that 

 the same remedy will work for other species as well. Horton 

 (10) gives several recipes for anti-ant bands. Sulphur and 

 HgCl 2 are the primary ingredients recommended and it is stated 

 that ants can be kept out of trees and cupboards for from 2-5 

 months with one application. Marlatt (13) says sticky bands 

 do not prevent the Argentine ant ascending trees, for it at once 

 builds a bridge of dirt across the band. The Argentine ant will 

 avoid a quick poison and is repelled to some extent by it. Ant 

 bands containing HgCl 2 act as a repellent and are recommended. 



RELATION OF ANTS TO OTHER SPECIES AND TO 

 OTHER INSECTS 



Myrmecophily.- — On April 19, 1915, Donisthorpe (7) captured 

 a specimen of the beetle Myrmedonia limbata, which he found 

 running with a number of Lasius nigra workers, on the sand 

 bank in which the ant's nest was located. Donisthorpe also 

 records collecting a spider (Micryphantis beatus) that looks so 

 nearly like the workers of Tapinoma erraticum with which it 

 w T as running about, that he at first took it to be an ant. This 

 same author has a nest of L. umbratus in which an individual 

 of the beetle Amphotis marginata has lived for one and one- 

 half years. He records, also, data concerning the behavior of 

 Myrmica scabrinoides toward the lepidopterous larva Lycaena 

 arion. This larva it appears is not molested by the ants although 

 it eats their eggs and larvae. 



Crawley (4) attempts to show that the claviger beetle C. 

 testaceus is more strongly attracted toward the queens of Lasius 

 umbratus than to those of L. flavus, which latter is the normal 

 host. He says, that when he placed a number of the beetles 

 into nests containing L. umbratus queens, they clung to the 

 queens and did not seem to change their resting place for weeks. 

 He thinks that it is probable that the parasitic queens (L. um- 



