14 



THE ARGENTINE ANT. 



passed back and foTrth between that city and BrazOian ports. This 

 view is supported by the fact tliat hxrge numbers of the ants were 

 fii'st noticed in the vicmity of the wharves where these ships unloaded 

 their cargoes and also by the fact that these ships have been the only 

 means of regular communication between New Orleans and the 

 countries in which the ant is indigenous. That this and other sj)ecies 

 of ants are actually transported on ocean-going vessels has been fre- 

 cpiently observed. Thus in July, 1911, the senior author, while a 

 passenger on one of tlie largest coastwise vessels between New Or- 

 leans and New York, found colonies of tliis same ant occupying pro- 

 tected situations in the woodwork of the steamer. Dr. W. M. ^Tieeler 

 also wTites us that while returning from Guatemala aboard a fruit 



Fig. 1.— Map of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, showing counties in the Southern States whii'h are 

 infested by the Argentine ant , according to the authors' records. (Original.) 



steamer in January, 1912, lie found it infested with another common 

 ant, Prenolejpis longicornis Fab. 



PRESENT DISTRIBUTION IN THE SOUTHERN STATES. 



The area in the Southern States within wliich the Argentine ant 

 IS known to occur at present extends from Montgomery, Ala., to 

 Lake Charles, La., a distance of about 380 miles east and west; and 

 from Delta, La., to the mouth of the Mississippi River, a distance of 

 about 250 miles north and south. (See fig. 1.) This section is not 

 uniformly infested, but contains a great number of infested areas of 

 more or less importance, rangmg in size from many square miles of 



