83 



little or no injury to themselves. Some dropped directly from the 

 table top to the floor. 



One laro-e colony of ants, on the outskirts of a portion of the in- 

 fested area on CarroUton avenue, had paths running in several direc- 

 tions; over these paths thousands of ants were hurrying all day long. 

 A willow tree standing alone in a very bare piece of hard ground 

 over 200 feet from the colony was thoroughly infested. The path- 

 way from the colony was about i2 inches Avide, going fairly straight 

 through a Aveed patch, then directly across the barren ground to the 

 tree. The outgoing ants from the colony were usually not laden; a 

 few Avere noticed carrying ant pupii?, and these Avere foUoAved to the 

 tree, Avhere they entered a holloAV in the trunk. Almost all the re- 

 turning ants had distended abdomens, evidently being filled Avith the 

 excretions from the plant lice. A fcAv were seen carrying young 

 lepidopterous larva^ that Avere dead at the time I found them. To 

 this same nest was traced one large foraging party that Avas destroy- 

 ing a nest of other ants. 



Not onl}^ at Ncav Orleans, but at scA'eral other toAvns in the State, I 

 heard complaints of the destruction of floAvers by the ants. The caly- 

 ces and bases of the petals of scA^eral kinds of composite ornamental 

 tloAvers Avere found to have been so thoroughly destroj^ed that a 

 slight jar would cause tlie petals to fall. Lemon blossoms on trees 

 of B. M. Young, at Morgan City, La., Avere eaten so badly that the 

 trees failed to set fruit. I heard accounts, also, of their establishing 

 colonies of plant lice on the floAver buds of shrubs in yards to such 

 an extent that no floAvers ojxMied. T found them attending colonies 

 of the " black aphis of chrysanthemum " at Doctor Stubbs's resi- 

 dence, in Audubon Park, and in other yards to such an extent as to 

 dAvarf or deform almost half the floAvers. 



Hard unripencd pears left in barrels on a liouse porch Avere found 

 seA^eral days later to be honeycombed l)y these ants, almost all the 

 interior being eaten. 



Lunch-counter, soda-fountain, candy-store, and fruit-stand pro- 

 prietors are kept continually on the Avatch to prcA^ent their stock in 

 trade from being ruined. A grocer in the loAver part of the city told 

 me that Avhen the ants first ajDpeared thej^ seemed to come in by thou- 

 sands in a single day. He stated that he threAV aAvay OA'er half a 

 barrel of sugar and seA'eral boxes of evaporated fruits. 



These ants have driven or killed out all other ants in the regions 

 infested by them. I Avitnessed tAvo battles betAveen them and other 

 ants on the outskirts of the infested area. The ncAV ant, although 

 much smaller, overcame the other by sheer force of numbers, colunm 

 after column of them arriving on the scene of battle, Avhile long files 

 Avere carrying away dead ants, joupiv, and larAa?. 



