HOUSE ANTS: KINDS AND METHODS OF CONTROL. 5 
Six other Old-World tropical ants have been recorded as introduced 
house-infesting species in North America.t’ These, like other Old- 
World ants, have been brought in through the agency of commerce 
and have gained foothold in tropical America and are occasionally 
found nesting in hothouses and other heated structures in temperate 
regions. 
One of these ants, Prenolepis longicornis, a slender, black species 
with unusually long legs and antenne or “ feelers,” has earned the 
common name of “crazy ant” from its habit of running about, 
usually singly and apparently aimlessly, with a quick, jerky motion. 
This ant has long been a common species in the greenhouses of tem- 
perate Europe and America, and in some of these, as in the Jardin 
des Plantes in Paris, it has been a permanent resident for more 
than 40 years. It has acquired a footing in tropical Florida, and 
probably also in other localities in the Gulf States, and has been 
reported as infesting, even to the top floors, large apartment build- 
Fic. 3.—An introduced tropical Old-World ant, Plagiolepis longipes. Enlarged. (After 
Wheeler.) 
ings in New York City, and also as occurring in hotels and flats in 
Boston. It is a common house ant in the District of Columbia. 
India is believed to be the original home of this ant, whence it has 
been carried to all tropical countries in ships, and it has been ac- 
companied in its wanderings by three insect messmates, namely, 
two beetles and a small cricket. 
A related species, Prenolepis vividula, is a common greenhouse 
pest in Europe and is reported as having been found in greenhouses 
in this country; in one instance as far north as Canada. Another 
of these Old-World ants, Plagiolepis longipes (fig. 3), will probably 
ultimately come into prominence as a house species on this continent. 
Its original home is given as Cochin China, but it has already estab- 
lished a foothold in widely separated parts of the world. On the 
island of Reunion, for example, it is very abundant and is reported 
to be driving out some of the primitive species. It has also been 
recorded on this continent from Todos Santos, Lower California. 
1Tetramorium guineense Fab., Tetramorium simillimum Roger, Tapinoma melanoce- 
phalum Fab., Prenolepis longicornis Latr., P. vividula Nyl., and Plagiolepis longipes Jerdon. 
