32 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 1 



and one colony was found domiciled between the tin wall and veneer 

 covering of an abandoned kerosene can. In short, any locality that 

 offers protection from the elements becomes a satisfactory home for 

 this little creature. The species shows a marked tendency to con- 

 struct nests in close proximity to any abundant food supply. If 

 honey or molasses be placed in the same spot upon the ground for 

 several days in succession, a small colony invariably burrows into the 

 earth beside it. As to how new colonies are established, I am still very 

 much in doubt. I have examined a considerable number of small 

 nests which I knew to be but recently occupied, finding in them 

 workers, eggs and larvae but no queen. On the other hand I have 

 found queens with foraging workers; one such was found with sev- 

 eral hundred w^orkers in a sack of sugar which was thoughtlessly left 

 exposed for a few hours, and in rare instances a queen is seen crawl- 

 ing about unattended by any workers at all. 



One of my assistants, Mr. G. D. Smith, has suggested that the com- 

 munistic habit is carried by this species even beyond the colony itself 

 and that colonies adjacent to each other form "communities," the 

 inhabitants of which recognize each other as friends. There is indeed 

 evidence to support this view. For example three colonies located in 

 a line, about fifteen feet apart, were found to be in touch with each 

 other, workers constantly traveling from one to the other. 



The number of queens present in a colony may vary from one to 

 many. I took as many as thirty-two queens from one colony and 

 there were several more in sight when my supply of empty pill boxes 

 became exhausted. It may be that the multiplicity of queens, and the 

 age to which the workers attain, rather than the rate of oviposition, 

 may account for the great abundance of individuals. The same 

 theory might also explain why so many years have been required to 

 bring the species into prominence after its introduction, as well as 

 explaining its present strength.. The increase of this pest strikes one 

 as being steady and powerful, rather than sudden. 



Though valiant fighters when other ants are encountered, the Ar- 

 gentine ant cannot be classed as a predaceous insect. I have yet to 

 find them attacking any living insect or animal, the one exception 

 being a cockroach which had been mashed, but which still possessed 

 enough life to now and then move a leg or antenna. After insects are 

 killed the ants feed greedily upon the body juices. They and my 

 honey bees feed peacefully from the same dish of honey, and I have 

 seen the ants clean off a bee which had been daubed with honey, with- 

 out apparent annoyance to the latter. 



Relation to Other Ants. — Prof. M. W. Wheeler, in Entomological 

 News for January, 1906, gives an interesting account of how this 



