12 THE ARGENTINE ANT. 



In 1908 Prof. C. P. Lounsbuiy recognized this ant in Cape Town, 

 South Africa, where it had ah-eady become a household nuisance and 

 had displayed its usual role of attending mealy-bugs and other insects. 

 The general belief in Cape Town, according to Prof. Lounsbury, was 

 that the pest had been introduced through the medium of forage, 

 large quantities of which were imported from Argentina during the 

 Boer War (1900-1902) and stored in Cape Town. 



In July, 1910, the late Edwyn C. Reed, of Concepcion, Chile, in a 

 letter to the senior author, rejDorted the occurrence of the species in 

 that country in large numbers. 



In 1908 ants collected by Mr. J. Chester Bradley, of the University 

 of California, were identified as 1. Jiumilis by Dr. W. ^M. Wheeler. 

 Immediately following this discovery Prof. C. W. Woodworth, of the 

 California Agricultural Experiment Station, visited the authors' 

 laboratory at Baton Rouge, La., for the purpose of becoming familiar 

 with the methods used in studying the insect and with the information 

 which had been gathered concerning it up to that time. On his 

 return to California he published a brief circular ^ concerning its 

 occurrence in that State. 



From the foregoing it is readily seen that during the past few years 

 this ant has thoroughly established itself, as a nuisance of the first 

 order, on four continents, and, owing to the readiness with which it is 

 disseminated through the ordinary channels of commerce, there 

 seems little reason for supposing that it will not eventually invade 

 all of the semitropical countries of the globe. 



INTRODUCTION INTO LOUISIANA. 



As with most imported species, the original time and place at which 

 a foothold was obtained by the Argentine ant in Louisiana must be 

 largely conjectural. However, we are able to conjecture with rather 

 strong circumstantial evidence to guide us. Not only does the tes- 

 timony of inhabitants indicate New Orleans to be the original starting 

 point of this species in the South, but its enormous numbers and the 

 extent to which it has exterminated other species of Formicidte con- 

 firm the opinion that it has been in New Orleans longer than else- 

 where. 



Mr. Edward Foster,^ of the editorial staff of the New Orleans 

 Daily Picayune, has given us the earliest record of its occurrence in 

 New Orleans. He noted it in 1891 in St. Charles Avenue, 9 

 squares from the river and 12 from Canal Street. It was then 



1 The Argentine ant in California. Cal. Agr. Exp. Sla , Cir. 38 August, 1908. 



2 The introduction of Iridomyrmex humitis into New Orleans. Jouru. Econ. Em., vol. 1, No. .5. pp. 

 28»-293, October, 190S. 



