366 FOKTT-EIGHTH KEPOKT ON THE STATE MUSEUM 



abdomen. Its scientific name is Cremastog aster cerasi (Fitch). Some- 

 times a half-dozen or more of these ants may be seen upon a single 

 aphis-infested cherry leaf, touching or rubbing the aphides with their 

 antennae to induce them to yield their honey-dew. They are more 

 faithful nurses of the aphides than the preceding species, and despite 

 their smaller size they are abundantly able, by means of their sting, to 

 defend themselves against the powerful C herculaneus, to conquer it, 

 and even to rob it of its flock of aphides. Dr. Fitch gives an interesting 

 detailed recital of the manner in which this is accomplished, through 

 the use of its sting when seized by the larger species, and then mark- 

 ing each plant-louse with the pungent venom thrown out from its sting 

 which apparently makes them repulsive to their former guardians. 



The Little Yellow Ant, Com.m.on in Walks. 

 If our correspondent is correct in his identification of the ants fre- 

 quenting his fruit-trees with those that make the little ant-hills in and 

 about the drives and walks, then the species must be the "little yellow 

 ant," Monomorium molestum (Say). The worker measures 0.06 of an 

 inch in length, " is of a honey-yellow color with the head and abdomen 

 tinged with brown, the abdomen being broadly oval and almost globu- 

 lar." I do not recall any record of this species ascending fruit-trees 

 for its food, but it is undoubtedly injurious at times to succiilent vege- 

 tation, for Dr. Fitch has stated (First Report, p. 129) of it, that it 

 sometimes does much injury in corn-fields by gnawing the blades of 

 corn when they are but a few inches high, for the purpose of drinking 

 the sweet juice which flows from the wounds.* 



Ants Injurious to Orange-Trees. 

 Two species of ants are injurious to orange-trees in the South, as 

 we learn from the studies of Mr. H. G. Hubbard, contained in his 

 volume, entitled Insects Affecting the Orange, 1885. Of these, 3Iono- 

 morinm carbonarium Smith, eats holes into the leaves when they 

 are young and tender, but seldom causes any material damage. 

 The other, iSolenojysis xyloni McCook,f " frequently and seriously in- 

 jures the orange by gnawing away the bark and causing an exudation 

 of the gum. The ants make their attack in force, and either girdle or 

 kill the shoots or cut so deeply in their bases ihat they bend over or 

 break off by their own weight. Sometimes, but rarely, the ants attack 

 the old bark of the trunk and larger branches and gnaw holes therein. 



* See an interesting account in the Transictiona of the New York Agricultural Society, xxv, 

 for the year 1865, p. 133, of attacks made by this species upon cut-worms. 

 t Subsequently referred to Solenopsis geminata_(Fsihr .'). 



