THE monthly bulletin. 255 



The ant itself is a small, dark brown insect, and is practically without 

 odor when crushed. There are three forms: the worker, the queen and 

 the male. The queen is about twice as large as the worker and some- 

 what differently shaped, the abdomen being comparatively larger. The 

 male is slightly larger than the worker and has a much larger thorax 

 and smaller abdomen in comparison. Both of the true sexes are 

 winged, although the wings of the queen are shed after a short time. 



The ant nests in large colonies, either in the ground or in the crotches 

 of trees, or in practically any protected place. A nest will contain 

 from one to a large number of queens, the duty of which is to lay the 

 eggs from which the colony develops. These are deposited at the rate 

 of as high as fifty per queen per day, and are immediately removed by 

 the workers and placed in localities in the nest where conditions are 

 most satisfactory for their development. As soon as the eggs hatch the 

 larva 1 are cared for by the workers and fed with sweet substances, which 

 they collect by foraging. This food consists mostly of the honey-dew 

 secreted by aphids and scale insects. 



The dissemination of the ant is brought about in two ways: first, by 

 artificial means, such as transportation with nurserystock and plaids, 

 and. second, by the natural wandering of the insects themselves. While 



the for i- method suffices to carry the pest long distances, they do not 



of their own accord spread with any great rapidity, since the queens 

 do not seem to use their wings for flying to any extent, and the distance 

 which they can cover by crawling is not more than a few hundred feet 

 per year. Tins has a very important bearing upon the control of the 



pest. 



The Argentine ant has no equal as a household pest. It will feed on 

 practically all kinds of cooked food, as well as raw meats, sugar, fruits, 

 etc. In some localities in the southern states it has become such an 

 intolerable pest that the tenants have vacated houses and caused realty 

 values to drop. It is in the orchards, however, that it promises to do 

 the most serious damage in California. This damage is brought about 

 by the protection which it gives to mealybugs and other scale insects 

 from their natural enemies. It has been found that these pests of fruit 

 trees increase enormously in those localities where the ant is abundant. 

 NfeweD and Barber write as follows: 



"It is in tlie orange groves of southern Louisiana, however, that this 

 ant has probably inflicted the most serious injury. * * * Suffice it to 

 say that at present the Argentine ant is there regarded as the most 

 serious insect problem, owing to the marked increase of scale insects 

 which follows its introduction and spread. The value of land in that 

 section depends to a considerable extent upon the presence or absence 

 of the Argentine ant. The ant also does considerable damage to the 

 fig crop, by boring through the ripened fruit, or entering the calyx end 

 of the ripening fig and tunneling the interior. It also assists in the 

 increase of the destructive mealybug, PsendoC0CCUS din, which injures 

 figs to a considerable extent. 



"In the sugar-cane fields the ant again comes to the front, owing to 

 its fondness for the excretions of the sugar-cane mealybug. Pseudo- 

 coccus calceolaria. In order to protect these insects from storms and 

 enemies the ants build protective coverings and shelters over them 



