174 



HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



minimum). Occasionally the large carpenter ant (Cam- 

 ponotus pennsylvanicus) forages in houses, and the pave- 

 ment ant (Tetramorium cespitum) becomes a trouble- 

 some intruder in cities along the Atlantic seaboard. The 

 Argentine ant (Iridomyrmex humilis) wherever it occurs 

 in the United States is probably the worst household pest 

 of all. The little fiery ant (Solenopsis molesta) is also 

 said to invade kitchens occasionally. 



The red ant. — This ant (Monomorium pharaonis), 

 which is really light yellow in color, is only about one- 

 sixteenth of an inch long (Fig. 48) 

 and, at times, literally swarms in 

 houses, and because of its small 

 size it gets into everything that is 

 not almost hermetically sealed. 

 Hardly any household food prod- 

 ucts come amiss to the red ants. 

 They are especially fond of sugar, 

 sirups, fruit juices, jellies, cakes, 

 fruit pies, and the like. Whenever 

 one of the tiny workers finds a 

 pleasing morsel or supply of food it 

 immediately informs the rest of the community and they 

 all come quickly trooping to the source of supply. After 

 the colony has found out the existence of a desired bit 

 of food, they swarm over and through it in such numbers 

 that it seems almost a hopeless task to get rid of them. 

 The discouraging part of the problem is that no matter 

 how many we may kill an equal number seems to come to 

 take the places of those destroyed and so long as the queens 

 are allowed to live on undisturbed the workers may con- 

 tinue to come. The French observer Bellevoye tells 



Fig. 48. — The red ant. 

 (X 20.) 



