ANTS 185 



season. Newell says that he has taken advantage of this 

 habit by providing a dry goods box and filling it with 

 cotton seed and straw, leaving the top open so that the 

 rains will moisten the material and cause decay with a 

 consequent production of heat, especially in the center of 

 the mass. By placing the box in the middle of a city lot 

 or garden nearly all the ant colonies within thirty or forty 

 yards will migrate to it and settle among the warm, decay- 

 ing matter. By throwing a rubber cloth or waterproof 

 canvas over the top of the box in January the whole collec- 

 tion may be killed with a pound of carbon bisulfide. 



Summer destruction. — Whenever a colony is located in 

 the ground about the lawn or garden, it can be extermi- 

 nated with carbon bisulfide. Colonies occurring under 

 boards or piles of rubbish may be destroyed by spray- 

 ing them with kerosene, crude oil, or boiling water. When 

 a colony is located in an inaccessible situation it may 

 often be coaxed into a location in which it can be easily 

 reached. For example, they are very fond of decaying 

 wood as a nesting place, and if a piece of decayed log 

 with a jar of honey or sugar is placed near the inaccessible 

 situation, the colony will often desert their old nest and 

 move bodily into the log. In this situation every individ- 

 ual may easily be destroyed. 



Repellents. — The ant tape is effective in preventing the 

 ants from reaching tables and other situations where the 

 tape is so placed that the ants must cross it if they reach 

 their desired goal. 



Again, Xewell says he has had success in driving the ants 

 from a room which they persist in visiting by using a 

 poisoned solution of sugar or molasses. The solution giv- 

 ing best satisfaction was made with white arsenic \ gram, 



