180 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



against ants in the field. It is a deadly poison and should 

 be handled with great care. If it is powdered fine and 

 scattered over an ant hill, after the latter has been broken 

 up or stirred on the surface, the ants will immediately 

 begin to remove the pieces. In doing so, every one of 

 them that touches the cyanide will be killed. Colonies 

 have been almost exterminated in this way and whenever 

 the colonies of the red ant can be located the cyanide may 

 be used to advantage. It will be found more useful 

 against the normally out-door species, such as the pave- 

 ment ant, carpenter ant, and others. 



It must be remembered that if fowls are allowed access 

 to the poison and pick up the pieces, they will certainly 

 be poisoned. To obviate this difficulty, it is best to use 

 the cyanide in solution by dissolving it in water at the 

 rate of one-half an ounce or an ounce to a gallon of water. 

 It may then be sprayed over the nest or poured down the 

 openings. This method seems to be quite as effective 

 as scattering it in the powdered form. At least, experi- 

 ments have shown that colonies of some species of ants 

 may be nearly if not quite exterminated in this way. 

 Another very effective method of application consists in 

 placing a pint or more of the solution in hollows dug out 

 at the exits of the burrows of the colony. 



Ordinary cotton tape treated with corrosive sublimate 

 acts as an effectual barrier to the red ant and other species. 

 The tape is often wound about the legs of tables, tacked 

 along the edges of shelves, and in other places to protect 

 food. The ants will not cross these strips of tape. The 

 prepared tape may be purchased in the larger cities of 

 the South, but the author has never seen it for sale 

 in cities in the North. But since one often gets an 



