4 



■where they are plentiful. In Trinidad, constant care is necessary to 

 keep doAvn their numbers, and many means have been devised from 

 time to time for their extermination. 



Under the name of " The Asphyxiator," Messrs. Watts & Co. of 

 Bristol have introdiiced a handy machine which can be used for the 

 purpose of killing nests with deadly effect. 



In the agricultural districts it is a well known fact that large 

 nests can be exterminated, by ordinary means, only at an enormous 

 cost ; sometimes as much as twenty or thirty dollars having to be 

 paid for a single nest. With the machine I now illustrate, the same 

 work can be accomplished for a tenth of this sum, if the nest be fairly 

 accessible. The machine can be worked by anyone possessing ordinary 

 intelligence. It can be seen at the Royal Botanic Gardens where it 

 can be fully examined, and all necessary particulars ascertarined. 



The machine will destroy alike, nests in the ground, in walls, or 

 in hollow trees, or in fact in any position in which they may be found. 

 It is the duty of the planter however, after a nest has been destroyed, 

 to effectually stop up the old entrances, so as to prevent a fresh colony 

 gaining access thereto, for it is a well known fact that ants about to form 

 a new colony prefer to go to a house which has been already occupied, 

 than to provide one by their OAvn labour, and especially so, if remnants 

 of the fungus on which they feed are left in the old nest. Some people 

 destroy them by fumes which kill the insect, but do not affect the 

 fungus in any way, hence there remains a plentiful supply of food for 

 the next party of ants that come along intent on establishing a new 

 domicile ; and this readily explains the reason why a nest quickly 

 becomes active again after a fumigation of such a character. In our 

 method, fumes are used which destroy the fungus as well as the 

 animals in the nest, and for this reason it is much more effective, as 

 there is certainly not the same temj^tation for ants to occupy an empty 

 house as there would be for them to occupy a house with a larder 

 well provided. 



Through the kindness of Messrs. Watts & Co. I am able to 

 illustrate the form of the machine. It will be readily seen that it is 

 qtiite handy and can be carried and worked by one man, even in the 

 most difficult places. 



Mr. Bulmer, Postmaster-General, writes as follow of the action of 



the machine : — 



" The Parasol Ant Destroying Machine did its work in a most efficient 

 manner. Tlie largest nest M^as in the walls of an old well long since filled up 

 ■with earth. 



