SPRING NUMBER 57 
Mr. Bartholomew at once began to combat these ants by the 
use of all methods known. For instance, the hives were placed 
on stands several inches above the ground and the legs or sup- 
ports of these stands placed in cans containing water and oil. 
However, this procedure did not prove successful, for the ants 
would carry small particles of trash and sand and would bridge 
across the water in the cans and thereby gain entrance to the 
hives, where they would not only carry away the honey stored 
by the bees but would kill and feed upon the bee larvae. They 
would then back up into the empty cells of the honey comb with 
their heads at the entrances and bite off the legs and wings of 
the bees as they passed over, and otherwise worried and annoyed 
the bees until they left the hive. During one night these red 
ants completely cleaned out and destroyed as many as thirty- 
seven colonies, and during a period of a few weeks something 
over two hundred colonies of bees were destroyed. 
An attempt was made to hunt up the nests of the ants and 
to destroy them with gasoline, but there were too many so that 
this remedy was impracticable. “Tanglefoot” was placed around 
the legs of the stands, but this three inch band of ‘“‘tanglefoot’’ 
was successful only for a short time as the ants soon learned to 
cross over it. 
Corrosive sublimate, mixed with axle grease and painted on 
the legs of the stands, was tried. This method was at first suc- 
cessful, for the ants would approach, examine it and then scam- 
per off back to the scrub palmettoes; they would not linger a 
moment. But in about two weeks they became used to it and 
would wade right across it, wet or dry, paying no attention what- 
ever to it. However, this method may be quite successful where 
the ants in the surrounding neighborhood are less plentiful. 
Pans were then filled with oil (distillate) and the legs of the 
stands placed in the pans. This was satisfactory in so far as 
the pans and oil were concerned, as no ants succeeded in crossing, 
but they required constant attention to see that there was always 
oil in the pans and that no weeds or grass grew against the 
stands to serve as bridges for the ants. Seven colonies were lost 
where a single blade of grass came in contact with the stands 
so as to bridge the pans. 
So it seemed that no means could be provided to control the 
ants as every method used by beekeepers elsewhere had been 
tried out and failed. 
It became apparent that some other scheme must be tried in 
