32 THE FLORIDA ENTOMOLOGIST 
to be well colonized. Three species of ants were noted by the 
writer, the most abundant being a species of Camponotus. The 
principal function of the ants was found by repeated observa- 
tions and studies both in the laboratory and field, to be the re- 
moval of the honey dew from the foliage, thus keeping the leaves 
and twigs clean and conditions most favorable for the aphids. 
Where there were no ants it was found that many of the nymphs 
in moving about during feeding became entangled in the honey 
dew, which finally caused the weak individuals to perish. Much 
was done, therefore, toward the control of the aphids when all 
the ant colonies were destroyed. 
CONTROL MEASURES 
In the solution of the problem on which the writer was working 
it was obvious that measures for effective control must be tested 
out. The first experiments, conducted on April 10th when the 
outbreak was at its peak, consisted in testing spraying as an 
effective control measure. Where nicotine sulphate was used 
in a spray of 1 to 800 combined with either whale oil soap or 
Octagon laundry soap, one pound to each five gallons of water, 
it was found that very efficient results were obtained where it 
was possible to get the spray into actual contact with the insect. 
But this was not always possible because of the abundance of the 
curled foliage which served as a protection for many of the 
insects. 
With the contact dusts, however, especially the three percent 
nicotine dusts, we estimated the kill to be about 95 percent where 
the experiments were conducted under the writer’s personal at- 
tention. The spraying experiments showed an average killing of 
85 percent. 
These experiments were conducted on three-year-old Temple 
Orange trees in the Templetown Groves, Lake Wales, on April 
9th, 1924, between 9:30 A. M. and noon. It was a bright sunny 
day, with a temperature of 80 degrees and a westerly wind blow- 
ing about 15 miles an hour. 
Following is a table giving relative cost of spraying and. 
dusting: 
Spraying Machine: 300 gallon. Bean. Equipped with rods and two lines 
of hose, spraying four rows at a time. 
Cost 
Mixture: Lime Sulphur Solution (1 to 40) 7% gal................. $1.20 
Black Weat Forty (4"t01800)) SB pts see 5.07 
Kayso! 2161 los: sss sete oe reer 58 
Gostlof materialse= ee ee $6.85 
