28 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 1 



of corn meal, and if this be strewed thickly on top of the rows con- 

 taining the lettuce seed, the ants will undertake to carry it away. By 

 the time the meal is all removed, the lettuce seed has usually germin- 

 ated. This practice is the most common one among the truck-growers. 

 I have succeeded in protecting the lettuce seed by using tobacco dust 

 scattered liberally on the ground over the seed, but it is not an entirely 

 efficient repellent, for a small percentage of the workers burrow 

 through it, seemingly without inconvenience or annoyance. 



In what other fields this ant of cosmopolitan habits will become a 

 disturbing factor remains to be seen. 



Description. 



In all the colonies which we have had under observation for several 

 months, not more than three forms have been found, the females or 

 queens, workers and males. Major and minor workers do not seem 

 to occur nor do any individuals more than others act as soldiers or 

 scouts. The original description of the worker by Mayr has been 

 quoted above. As far as the writer can learn, the queen and male as 

 well as the immature forms, have not heretofore been described. 



At my request Prof. W. M. Wheeler has prepared a re-description 

 of the worker, and descriptions of the queen and male, thus making a 

 complete and comprehensive description of the species, which I give 

 herewith : 



Iridomyrmex humilis Mayr. 



"HypocUnea hurmlis Mayr. Annu. Soc. Natural Modena, 1868, 3 : 144, No. 4, 

 worker. 



"HypocUnea (Iridomyrmex) humilis Mayr, Verb. Zool. botan. Ges. Wien, 

 1870, 20 : 954, 958, worker. 



"Iridomyrmex humilis Emery, Zeitschr. f. wlss. zool. 46, 1888, p. 386. Taf. 

 28, Figs. 17-19 (gizzard). 



Worker: Length 2.2-2.6 mm. 



"Head oval, broader behind than in front, with its posterior margin slightly 

 concave in the middle. Eyes flattened, in front of the middle of the head. 

 Mandibles with two larger apical and several minute basal teeth. Clypeus 

 short, convex in the middle, with broadly excised anterior margin. Frontal 

 area and groove present but rather indistinct. Antennal scapes extending 

 about one fourth their length beyond the posterior corners of the head. 

 Joints 1-5 and the terminal joint of the funiculus distinctly longer than 

 broad ; remaining joints nearly as broad as long. Thorax slender, narrower 

 than the head ; broadest through the pronotum which is convex, rounded and 

 nearly as long as broad. Mesonotum nearly as long as the pronotum, 

 sloping, laterally compressed, in profile evenly continuing the contour of the 

 pronotum. Mesoepinotal constriction rather deep, extending obliquely down- 

 ward and backward on each side. Epinotum short, nearly twice as high a3 

 long, convex on the sides, with a short convex base, and a longer, flatter and 

 more sloping declivity. Petiole small, less than half as broad as the epino- 



