84 



The}' are extremely active; the residents of New Orleans have 

 christened them '' the crazy ant," since when a column is disturbed 

 it breaks up, the ants running aimlessly about in every direction. 

 Professor Wheeler, of the American INIuseum of Natural History, 

 has very kindly examined specimens of the workers and states that 

 they appear to be identical with Irklomyvmex humiUs Mayr. This 

 species has been hitherto reported only from tropical regions. The 

 genus is quite closely related to Tapinoma, but this species can be 

 separated by the presence of a distinct, erect, sharp-edged scale and 

 by the fact that the abdomen does not j^roject forward, nor in any 

 way conceal this scale. The workers are from f: to 2.50 mm. in 

 length, pale brown in color, head and thorax rugose, abdomen shin- 

 ing, but slightly pubescent. 



The New Orleans tradesmen early took advantage of the annoy- 

 ances caused by the ant, and now ever}^ grocery and drug store in the 

 infested area has for sale one or more " ant killers," " ant poisons," 

 '• ant preventives," etc. These consist of tapes saturated with cor- 

 rosive sublimate; corrosive sublimate solutions to be painted on 

 walls and legs of tables and chairs; hydrocyanic-acid preparations; 

 coal-oil mixtures; and others having trade names, the compositions 

 of M'hich are kept secret by the manufacturers. 



The use of corrosive-sublimate tapes and of cloths saturated with 

 coal oil appears to be the most successful means of keeping the ants 

 away. The use of carbon bisulphid to destroy the nests will be futile 

 unless it can be taken up by tlie whole community. A nest will be 

 reoccupied in a few clays after having been dosed with carbon ])isul- 

 phid, and cleaning out the ants in any section will be a waste of time 

 and mone}^ unless all other surrounding sections are immediatelj'^ 

 treated. 



Mr. Sanderson said that he could corroborate the statements in 

 the paper as to the severity of the attacks. In Morgan City they 

 were at times simply unbearable. 



Mr. Surface asked how these ants are disseminated by the methods 

 described, wliich would presumably apply only to the workers. If 

 tlie queens were not present they could not become established in the 

 new locality unless the workers reproduce parthenogeneticalh^ 



Mr. Titus said that the life history had been little studied and 

 that many of these points were still not clear, but it might be a fact that 

 in this group queens were not always necessary to establish colonies. 



In the absence of the author, the following paper was read by Mr. 

 Gillette: 



