116 Forty-ninth Report on the State Museum 



If such "nests" are to be found upon the lawn, easily to be de- 

 tected by the scant herbage mingled with the excavated pellets of the 

 soil, or if more obscure, to be discovered by following the traveling 

 ants to their homes, then it will be but a simple matter to break up the 

 nests and destroy their inmates. With a cane or broom-handle or other 

 round stick make a hole (if a large nest, two or three holes) to the depth 

 of a few inches, and pour in a tablespoonful of bisulphide of carbon, filling 

 up the hole thereafier with earth. The volatile vapor will permeate the 

 nest and quickly kill all of its occupants. 



If no such nests of large colonies can be found, and the distribution of 

 the ants seems to be general over the lawn, without, so far as can be 

 seen, any special biding places, then we would advise that on some 

 bright sunny day in spring, when the lawn is seen to be " alive " with the 

 ants, the entire surface be sprayed with a strong kerosene emulsion. This 

 should kill all with which it comes in contact. A repetition of this a few 

 times ought certainly to free the lawn of its hosts of unwelcome guests. 



As to the merits of lime or fertilizers in destroying ants: It is probable 

 that freshly slacked lime liberally applied to the ground in the early 

 spring before it could injure the young grass by its causticity, would 

 reach and kill such of the eggs and larvae and perhaps some of the work- 

 ers, as are not too deeply buried in the ground. Perhaps kainit would 

 prove, in this connection, a still more efficient insecticide, as the experi- 

 ments of the New Jersey State Entomologist, Prof. J. B. Smith, have 

 shown it to be effective in killing wire-worms which we are accustomed 

 to regard as unusually tenacious of life. 



As the reported abundance of ants upon this Long Island lawn appears 

 to be an extraordinary one, it would be of interest and perhaps of service 

 if specimens of the ants were sent to us for identification. They would 

 be found in three (or four) forms, viz., winged males and females, and 

 wingless workers. These last (in two sizes?) should occur at any time 

 after the month of March and until severe cold weather sets in, while the 

 males and females would rarely be seen except when, with common im- 

 pulse, they leave their nests simultaneously, some time about the first of 

 September, for their nuptial flight and final abandonment of their home, 

 the temales to found new-colonies and the males soon to die. 



