HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 247 



terminated the native ants, and the author can vouch for 

 the extreme personal discomfort caused by this little insect, 

 in certain parts of its adopted home. During the late Boer 

 War, large quantities of forage were imported to Cape 

 Town from Argentina. With it came the Argentine ant, 

 and established itself so well that in five years it became a 

 household nuisance. Indeed, so readily does the insect 

 become established, under suitable climatic conditions, that 

 there is every reason to believe it will eventually become a 

 pest of the first order in all the semitropical countries of 

 the world. It is of interest to note that man himself is 

 the main distributing agent of the Argentine ant. Under 

 normal conditions, the natural rate of spread does not 

 amount to more than a few hundred yards in each year, 

 but, by means of railways, boats, etc., this natural distribu- 

 tion rate is completely put in the shade. Packing material 

 of all kinds, plants, cases of groceries, and even of house- 

 hold utensils, all form suitable vehicles for transport, and 

 the only essential to the successful founding of a new 

 colony is that a fertile queen and some workers be present, 

 for the workers alone are unable to reproduce their kind, 

 and, in a strange land, would eventually die off. 



From the economic point of view the Argentine ant is of 

 extreme importance. During rainy weather they invade 

 houses in myriads, and, if allowed to do so, they literally 

 swarm over all kinds of food stuffs, those most eagerly 

 sought being honey, sugar, sweetmeats of all kinds, jams, 

 marmalades, preserved fruits, cream, olive oil, lard, eggs 

 (raw or cooked), raw meat of all kinds, and, to a slight 

 extent, flour. Quite apart from their feeding habits, they 

 become an intolerable nuisance in a house, the discovery of 

 even small quantities of anything edible is quickly signalled 

 to the nest, whence thousands of workers issue to carry 

 away the plunder. Their very intelligence renders them 

 obnoxious. They run all over one's person without com- 

 punction, and will attack any part of the body, where the 



