85 THE ARGENTINE ANT. 



by thrusting a sharp stick into the nest and pouring in a sufficient 

 amount of carbon bisulphid or gasoHne, afterwards closing the hoh' 

 with damp earth. 



On most city premises the ants can be further reduced by making 

 use of ^\inter trap nests or trap boxes, such as are described on pages 

 95-96 under the caption "Experiments with whiter trap boxes." 



Mention should not be omitted at this pomt of the steps advocated 

 by the Rev. Albert Biever, of Loyola College, New Orleans, who, 

 by his constant advocacy of warfare agamst this pest, did much 

 to enhghten the people of New Orleans concerning it. Father 

 Biever's plan was to place sponges moistened with sweetened water 

 in locations visited by the ants, and when these were covered with 

 the pests to dip them into bodmg water. The sponges were then 

 recharged and the process repeated as long as the ants would ^dsit 

 them. By this persistent destruction of the workers Father Biever 

 expected so to deplete the colony that not enough workers would 

 remaui to care for the queens and larvse and the latter would perish 

 from starvation. 



A most novel way of destroying these ants was described by Mr. 

 Edw;vm, C. Reed, of the Museo de Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile, 

 hi a letter to the senior author. Mr. Reed says: 



The only sure cure would be to take Biblical measures and root up the city infested, 

 stone by stone, and strew it with salt. As such a radical ciu:e is not practical, we must 

 be content with palliatives, and I find the following very effective: This ant is very 

 fond of olive oil, and so, in sardine tins, saucers, etc., I put a little olive oil in its runs. 

 The ants flock to the oil and in eating it get clogged up, so that for a spoonful of oil 

 I get about that quantity of ants, dead and harmless. In practice this so weakens 

 the nests that I get rid of them. Last November I moved into a house sadly infested 

 by them and at once applied the oil. They came to it by thousands and stayed 

 there. In a month's time I could appreciate the result, and by the end of our southern 

 summer very few were to be seen. 



CONTROL OF THE ANT IN APIARIES. 



The keeping of bees is made weU-nigh impossible in sections 

 heavily infested by the Argentme ant. Single colonies of the ants 

 often contahi more mdi\aduals than a colony of bees, and in addition 

 the colonies of ants are by far the most numerous. The Argentme 

 ants are not only exceedingly fond of honey but they attack the 

 bee larvse in the cells with a ferocity that is amazing. Tliousands 

 upon thousands of the ants will enter the hive, carrying away honey 

 and attacking tlie larvae. Tlie bees themselves are unable to cope 

 with such small enemies. The ants are too small for them to stmg, 

 and were they even to attempt piekmg up the ants in their mandibles 

 and carrying them out of the hive they coidd make no appreciable 

 headway against the thousands of intruders. The bees adopt what 

 is perliaps the best method of defense under the chcumstances, that 



