H1¥V.IN SECTS 
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
FARMERS’ 
BULLETIN ‘Se 
WasHINGTON, D. C. 740 Juuy 8, 1916 
Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. O. Howard, Chief. 
HOUSE ANTS: KINDS AND METHODS OF 
CONTROL.’ 
By C. L. Martart, 
Entomologist and Assistant Chief. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. Page 
Introduction.........-.-----+-+-+-++++-+-++- 1 | Habits and life history of house ants......... 9 
Kinds of North American house ants. ..-.... 3 | Means of controlling house and lawn ants... 10 
Introduced tropical Old-World ants. ...-. 3 Des seca oblige aloes ee 10 
Introduced tropical New-World ants... . 6 Destruction of lawn antS_>.=.............. 12 
Native North American ants of temperate Protection from the carpenter ant....... 12 
PORUMISS . < neesoe a eaise See se sie siae'cte' =: 7 
Garden and lawn ants as house pests... - 8 
INTRODUCTION. 
There are now in North America a considerable number of 
species of ants which under favoring conditions may inhabit dwell- 
ing houses or other heated buildings, constructing their nests and 
breeding continuously in the woodwork or masonry, or in articles 
of furniture or of ornament, and subsisting on food materials which 
they find about kitchens and pantries or scattered in living rooms. 
Other species nesting in gardens and lawns or under adjacent walks 
may occasionally enter houses as foragers or as accidental guests. 
It is interesting to note that, of the ants which in North America 
frequent houses and construct their nests therein, practically all 
are of tropical origin, and most of them are Old-World species. 
1 The authority for the scientific names and the source of many records of the less well- 
known house ants given in this bulletin is the notable work on American ants by Dr. W. M. 
Wheeler, entitled “Ants: Their Structure, Development, and Behaviour” (1910). Dr. 
Wheeler has also read the text of this bulletin and furnished some notes not available 
in print. 
39286°—16 
