THE MONTHLY BTTLT.ETIN. 



119 



THE ARGENTINE ANT. 



I riiloiii i/niK r liiiiiillis (.Miiyr). 



• Tlu' Arjj;('iitin(' ;nit is a ncwcoiiici" whicli lias s[)r('a(I raj)i(lly Ihruugh- 

 but certain parts of the Stati' and. imfoi'liinatc as it is. there is little 

 hope of keeping it confined to its present distribntion. It is not known 

 just where oi- when the insect first o'aini'd m foothold in ralifornia, hut 

 it was first collected in the southern part in the year 1007'. The first 

 definite recoi'ds. however, are from the San PVaneiseo Hay re<^ion, 

 where the lai'ji'est colonies ai'e to be found and whci-c the insect was 

 pi'obabl\' first estal)lish('d. 



Our present knowledge of its distribution is. of course, only i'viv^- 

 nientarv and leads ns to believe that other areas are still unknown. 



if 



MODOC 



Map showing the dis- 

 tribution of the Ar- 

 gentine ant . Iridomyr - 

 mex humlllB Uayr, in 

 California, Jan.l9l6. 



Essig 



Fig. 47. — Showing the distribution of the 

 Argentine ant, Iridomyrinex hnmiUs, in Cali- 

 Fornia. (Original.) 



This belief is based upon the fact that there have l)een located so many 

 small and scattered colonies throughout the State, without attempting 

 a thorough survey. The known records by counties are as follows : 



Alameda — All of the city of Alameda is infested; the eastern half 

 of Oakland and also all of Fruitvale, a small corner of Emery- 

 ville, one-fourth of Piedmont, one-half of Elmhurst and scattered 

 portions of JNIelrose ; a third of the eastern part and a few yards 

 in the western part of Berkeley are infested. In this county 

 the insect has become very troublesome and three cities — 

 Oakland, Piedmont and Berkeley — have conducted "ant cam- 

 paigns" to reduce the numbei's. 



Contra Costa — There are small colonies at Stcge and Martinez and 

 several acres infested at B.yron Hot Springs. 



^Woodworth, C. W., Circ. No. 38, Cal. Agrcl. E\p. vSta., pp. 1-2, Aug., 1908. 



