ANTS 177 



of vantage and nearness to dwellings, the pavement ant 

 has acquired the habit of entering houses and becomes 

 quite as much of a pest, in some instances, as the red ant. 



Marlatt thinks the pavement ant was introduced into 

 the United States many years ago and believes that it is 

 the species referred to by Kalm in 1748 as often occurring 

 in houses in Philadelphia at that early date. On the other 

 hand, Wheeler points out some reasons for thinking this 

 ant came into this country much more recently. The pave- 

 ment ant is interesting in having several species of parasitic 

 or slave-making ants associated with it and occurring in 

 its nests in Europe. Evidently none of these parasitic 

 species were introduced with their host into America. 



Marlatt says the colonies of the pavement ant are often 

 very large, for they may frequently be found in masses 

 of a quart or more on turning over stones in yards or on 

 lifting the flagging in paths. 



The large black carpenter ant. — The large black 

 carpenter ant (Camponotus yennsylvanicus) often becomes 

 an annoying pest in dwelling-houses. It is one of those 

 ants that have the habit of leaving their natural haunts at 

 times and taking up their abode in dwelling-houses. This 

 habit has evidently been assumed since the settlement of 

 America and the erection of buildings here. The natural 

 haunts of the black carpenter ant (Fig. 50) are in decaying 

 stumps, fence posts, logs, and other pieces of wood. We 

 have known them, however, to make their home in the de- 

 caying sill of a porch from which vantage ground they be- 

 came a decided nuisance in the kitchen not far distant. 

 Moreover, they occasionally do serious damage to rafters 

 and beams in buildings. 



Several observers have shown that the queen of this 



N 



