86 THE HOUSE FLY—DISEASE CARRIER 
unless the eggs and larvae (in manure) were protected 
from ants, as the latter invariably carried off both 
eggs and larvae and even pupae. 
In the work against the cotton boll weevil carried 
on in the Southern United States by the experts of 
the Bureau of Entomology of the U. S. Department 
of Agriculture, it was found that the “fire ant” of the 
Southern cotton fields ( Solenopsis gemminata, var. 
diabola ) is an important enemy of the weevil, and 
strong efforts were made to multiply the ants. It was 
soon found that they were strongly attracted to horse 
manure and undoubtedly destroyed all its other insect 
inhabitants. Mr. W. D. Pierce of the Bureau informs 
the writer that the little black ant Monomorium mini¬ 
mum also frequents horse manure heaps in Texas, and 
he also says that several species of the ant genus Phei- 
dole have this habit. 
Moreover, that famous pest in Louisiana and parts 
of California, known as the “Argentine ant” ( Iri- 
domyrmex humulis ) nests readily in horse manure, and 
its active, pugnacious and predatory habits undoubtedly 
induce it to prey upon the maggots found there. 
Mr. Pierce’s ant suggestion was of sufficient interest 
to follow up, and therefore the writer has corresponded 
with Prof. Wilmon Newell, of College Station, Texas; 
Prof. J. B. Garrett of the State University of Louisiana 
at Baton Rouge; and Mr. T. C. Barber, in charge of 
the Audubon Park laboratory of the U. S. Bureau of 
Entomology at New Orleans—all of them men who 
have had intimate acquaintance with the Argentine ant, 
