Octobei', 'OS] JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY 289 



The importance of this importation will be readily understood by 

 all entomologists as well as by all shade-tree lovers, and it is an inter- 

 esting example of what may be done in this way. The thanks of all 

 good Americans are due to Doctor Marchal, Monsieur Debreuil, and 

 Professor Valery IMayet for their assistance in this important work. 



THE INTRODUCTION OF IRIDOMYRMEX HUMILIS 

 (MAYR) INTO NEW ORLEANS 



By E. Foster, Vice-President Louisiana Societif of N(itU7-alists 



The exact period of the introduction of the ant Iridomyrmex hii- 

 onilis (Mayr) into New Orleans must necessarily remain somewhat of 

 a mystery. The source from whence it came has been also the cause of 

 some dispute among the citizens. On more than one occasion it has 

 l)een advocated that the insect was introduced during the time of the 

 Cotton Centennial Exposition, held in Audubon Park during 1884 and 

 1885, and only quite recently I have seen the view expressed in the 

 public press that it first invaded the port by way of the Algiers and 

 Gretna, or west side of the IMississippi River. For these theories there 

 is, in my opinion, little foundation. 



Prof. Wilmon Newell has named this pestiferous insect the "Ar- 

 gentine Ant, ' ' from the fact that it was first described from specimens 

 collected during 1866 in the neighborhood of Buenos Ayres. Against 

 the adoption of this proposed popular name there can be no objection, 

 although the insect is well-known in Brazil, and from the fact that all 

 evidence point to this latter country as the native habitat of the first 

 individual, or batch of individuals to land on our wharves, it might 

 more appropriately have been named after the "place where the nuts 

 come from." 



New Orleans has had no direct commercial intercourse with the Ar- 

 gentine Republic ; at least, in the form in which such an insect would 

 be likely to be introduced. In the case of Brazil, however, it is quite 

 a different matter, for cargoes of coffee have been coming to New Or- 

 leans almost since the date of the Louisiana Purchase, and certainly 

 since the passage of the Compromise Act of 1833, when the abolition 

 of the duty gave a great impetus to importations. But it is needless 

 to speculate as to whether the ant landed on the wharves as far back 

 as that date, and, moreover, my days have not been "long enough in 

 the land" to hark back for the better part of a century. 



It is an axiom that an insect pest visitation starts somewhat like a 

 fire which, if not quenched in the incipient stage, spreads rapidly once 



