THE ARGENTINE ANT. 11 



HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION. 



As stated on another page, this species was first described by Dr. 

 Gustav Mayr from specunens collected near Buenos Aires, hi Argen- 

 tina. It is also included hi the list of Argentine ants by Dr. Carlos 

 Berg.^ Its occurrence in the Argentine Republic is therefore unques- 

 tioned, and that Argentina is its native home is also borne out by the 

 fact that it does not appear to be generally a pest of importance in that 

 country. Dr. F. Lahille, of the Argentine department of agriculture, 

 in a letter to the senior author, states that it "is uncommon in 

 Buenos Aires and hi Ai'gentina generally, where it does not cause 

 annoyance or trouble of value." Mr. Arthur H. Rosenfeld, formerly 

 associated wdtli the writers in entomological work in Louisiana and 

 now located at Tucuman, Argenthia, writes that he has been unable 

 to find the species there. Rev. E. Wasmann, S. J., states that this 

 ant ''is a native of Brazil and Argentina," and Rev. Albert Biever, 

 S. J., of Loyola College, New Orleans, whose careful studies of 

 this species are mentioned on other pages, has corresponded with 

 various priests in Brazil and Argentina, with the result that he finds 

 that this species is a serious pest in parts of Brazil and evidently in 

 Argentina also. For example, in a letter to Father Biever, Rev. J. 

 Ferol, S. J., of the Colegio del Salvador, Buenos Aires, writes: 



The ants {Iridomyrmex humilis) of which your reverence makes mention are of no 

 utility whatsoever, but on the contrary are voracious and destructive. Of means 

 employed to destroy them the most effective, according to information given me, is 

 the use of an instrument and ingredient of which inclosed herein I send a prospectus 

 and instructions concerning its use and functions. 



Forel ^ mentions its occurrence in collections from the States of Sao 

 Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. Wheeler ^ also mentions 

 its occurrence in that country. Dr. Lahille also states that the 

 Argentine ant occurs in Uruguay and is ''especially common in 

 Mercedes and Montevideo," cities not far removed from Buenos Aires. 



According to Stoll * and Wheeler ^ the Argentine ant, after its 

 accidental introduction into the island of ISIadeira, entirely extermi- 

 nated another ant, Pheidole megacepTiala Fab., which was itself an 

 introduced species that had exterminated the native ants before it. 



In 1907 M. N. Martins^ recorded the occurrence of this ant in 

 Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal, and gave a vivid account of its ravages 

 in those cities and their environs. 



1 EnumeracWn sistematiea y sinon^mica de los Formicidos Argentinos, Chilenos y Uruguayos. 1890. 



2 Ameisen aus Sao Paulo (Brasilien), Paraguay, etc. Verhandlungen der k. k. zool.-bot. Ges. in Wien, 

 1908. 



3 Entomological News, January, 1906, p. 24. 



<Zur Kenntnis der geographischen Vcrbrcitung dor Ameiscn, Mitth. Schweiz. Ent. Ges., vol. 10, pp. 

 120-126, 1S9S. 



5 Ants: Their structure, development, and behavior, p. 154, 1910. 



^ Une fourmi terrible envahissant I'Europe {Iridomyrmex humilis Mayr). Broteria Revista do Sciencias 

 Naturaes, vol. 6, pt. 1, pp. 101-102, 1907. 



