18 THE ARGENTINE ANT. 



Table I. — Data concerning various towns infested with the Argentine ant. 



Name of town. 



Eleva- 

 tion. 



Montf;omcry, Ala. 



Mobile, Ala... 



Vieksburf,'. Miss. . 



Meridian, Miss 



Hattie.'^buri;, Miss. 



Biloxi, Miss 



Alexandria, La. .. 

 Baton Rouge, La. 



Delta, La 



Lake Cliarles, La. 

 New Il)eria. La... 

 New Orleans, T^a. 

 Sacramento, Cal. . 

 San Francisco, Cal 



San Jose, Cal 



Los Angeles, Cal. . 



Feet. 

 19f> 



11 

 229 

 338 

 154 



24 



62 



87 

 22 

 15 

 8 

 29 

 28 

 95 

 287 



Mean 

 annual 

 temper- 

 ature. 



(') 



Absolute 

 maximum 

 temper- 

 ature. 



Summer 



maximum. 



mean. 



(') 



107 

 102 

 101 

 104 

 103 

 100 

 109 

 103 

 ) 



103 

 101 

 102 

 108 

 100 

 104 

 109 



°F. 



(') 



Absolute 

 minimum 

 temper- 

 ature. 



Winter 



minimum, 



mean. 



'F. 



- 5 



- 1 



- 1 



- 6 



- 1 

 1 

 2 

 2 



(') 



(') 



Mean 

 annual 

 precipita- 

 tion. 



Inch ex. 

 50.8 

 62.1 

 53.8 

 53.4 

 48.1 

 CI. 3 

 54.9 

 54.6 



53.3 

 53.7 

 57.6 

 19.9 

 22.5 

 14.8 

 15.6 



1 Records not available. 



Note. — " Summer maximum, mean "=the average of the total maximums for June, 

 July, and August. " Winter minimum, mean "=the average of the total minimums 

 for December, January, and February. 



COMMON NAME. 



The name "Argentine ant" was first used by the senior author for 

 this species in 1908, when the public was on the point of accepting 

 the name "New Orleans ant." The permanent use of the latter 

 name would manifestly have been unjust to the Crescent City, for 

 that city was in no way responsible for the introduction of the pest. 

 As stated on preceding pages, this ant was originally described from 

 specimens collected in Argentina, South America, and up to the 

 present time we have no reasons for not believing that this is one, at 

 least, of the countries in which this ant is native. The naming of 

 this ant after the country from which it was first described is by no 

 means without precedent. Many other common insects, such as 

 the San Jose scale, American cockroach, Colorado potato beetle, 

 Mexican cotton-boll weevil, etc., have received their popular names 

 in the same manner. 



Various common names have been suggested from time to time, 

 among them "crazy ant," "tropical ant," "pernicious ant," etc., 

 but all have the disadvantage of being as ai)plicable to other species 

 as to Iridomyrmex humilis and none of them is distinctive. 



The term "Argentine ant" has been readily accepted, alike by 

 entomologists and the press, is concise, and not likely to be confused 

 with similar names; hence we believe it to be as good a name as can 

 be adopted. 



