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entrance of a nest which runs from the aperture in a horizontal 

 or ascending direction, is evidently impracticable, but it may 

 be used very effectively where nests are situated below the 

 level of the entrance. Coal tar is not only destructive to those 

 in the nest, but those outside on coming home are liable to be 

 entangled and destroyed by it, and moreover the nest on which it has 

 been used will not again be occupied, until all signs and smell of it 

 has disappeared. Even large nests may be effectively and economi- 

 cally destroyed when situated below the surface of the ground. A 

 large nest in one our Town squares was completely destroyed by this 

 means three or four years ago and has not since reappeared. 



The use of fire is very economical, but large and small nests can 

 only be destroyed by fire when situated in such positions as will allow 

 of the use of this agent. In pastures and in new clearings it is 

 probably as effective and as cheap a means as can be used, if _the effort 

 is properly directed. It is not sufficient however to heap up a pile of 

 burning bush upon a nest and maintain it on fire, for the ants will 

 beat a convenient retreat to the inner chambers of the nest, and when 

 the fire has burnt out, will either migrate or start anew. In attempting 

 the destruction of a large nest by this method, a watch should be 

 set, and torches used, to destroy all incoming ants, resting assured 

 that the ashes covering the seat of the nest will for a time 

 keep back those which are inside. In a day or two however these 

 will commence working, but on newly cleared ground they can be 

 readily seen and should be at once destroyed by any handy means 

 such as torch, gunpoAvder, or by sulphur fuse or squib, used on the 

 entrances as they are opened from the inside. 



Nests may also, when small, be entirely destroyed in soft ground 

 by the simple pounding or ramming hard each entrance hole once or 

 more daily. 



In attempting the destruction of any, even the smallest nest, it is 

 seldom that one operation is sufficient, for we have seen that the ants 

 are regular outside travellers, and we can never be sure that some are 

 not outside. There will be always some people Avho will say after the 

 most effective operations, that the ants were not destroyed in the nest ; 

 especially if it is not the system they favour, because they are 

 able to find ants in the same nest a week afterwards. Now we 

 have already seen that three or four ants are able to re-construct a 

 nest, or form a new colony, and is it not likely that the ants they find 

 in the nest are more likely to be those which were outside at the time 



