147 



In order to get rid of ants in the house, it will 

 generally be necessary to locate the nest : for unless 

 the nest is destroyed, the egg-laying females continue 

 their activities, and the supply of the individuals in 

 the colony is maintained. The nest can generally be 

 located by putting down a bait and watching to see the 

 direction taken by the ants that have visited it. The 

 nest may be destroyed in several ways, the method used 

 depending somewhat on its location. Carbon bisulphide, 

 cyanide of potash in solution, and hot water, are all useful 

 for this purpose. 



Two or three ounces of carbon bisulphide poured into 

 the principal entrances of the nest will evaporate and 

 produce poisonous fumes which have great power of 

 penetrating the galleries and killing the ants, both young 

 and adult. In using this, entrances and exits should be 

 plugged, to prevent escape of the fumes. Cyanide of 

 potash in a 2-per cent, solution is used in the same way. 

 The poisonous fumes are given off more slowly: but if the 

 openings leading to the underground portions are 

 thoroughly stopped, the ants will all be killed. Cyanide 

 of potash is very poisonous, and must be used with great 

 care : it should not be entrusted to servants. 



In using hot water for this purpose, the fact must be 

 borne in mind that it rapidly cools on coining into contact 

 with the ground, and that in order to produce any great- 

 ly increased temperature in an ants' nest at a depth of (3 

 or 8 inches, a liberal supply must be used. 



Most species of ants seem to have an extreme dislike 

 for corrosive sublimate. Safes, larders and tables may be 

 protected from invasion by washing with a solution con- 

 taining corrosive sublimate, or in the case of those which 

 swing from above, by soaking a portion of the rope by 

 which they are hung with this poison. Ants will 

 generally not cross a surface that has been treated with 

 corrosive sublimate in this manner. The book solution, 

 which has already been mentioned (p. 145), is useful for this 

 purpose. 



The practice of standing the legs of a table or safe in 

 vessels containing water and kerosene is well known to all 

 residents in the tropics, as is also the use of a device which 

 accomplishes the same purpose in connexion with hang- 

 ing safes and larders. This is made by using an arrange- 

 ment like an inverted cone to hold the oil and water ; 



