THE FIRE ANT 171 



colony seems to live, in both houses, and ants travel from 

 one to the other. 



DOROTHY. Sometimes several houses will be in the 

 same circuit. 



CECIL. This ant eats dead insects and the rejects of 

 other ants. Occasionally they drag home a few star thistle 

 seed. 



DOROTHY. Their kings are the same size as their 

 workers, but their queens are larger. 



CECIL. When the Garden ants are crushed they give 

 off an odor that is pleasant to some people. This is called 

 Tapinoma odor, because it smells like the odor of the other 

 Garden ant by that name. It is poisonous to its enemies. 

 The poison of most ants is not an acid. 



ALBERT. Ants that don't sting may be able to eject 

 more poison than those that have stings. Some can spray 

 it a distance of two inches. 



The Fire Ant. 



DOROTHY. The Fire ant around here is small only a 

 little larger than the Garden ant. It is rather scarce, too. 



CECIL. This morning five hundred Fire ants (Solenop- 

 sis geminata Fabr. subsp. maniosa Wheeler) lay stiff on the 

 cement walk by our house. I suppose they started across 

 last night, but when they struck the cold cement they got 

 so stiff they couldn't walk. 



KENNETH. They must have been forced to leave home. 



CECIL. The sunshine soon limbered them up. Several 

 had been stepped on by persons passing by. About half 

 a dozen had babies with them. 



FLORENCE. And now they'll have the grippe. 



CECIL. I thought I could feel the sting when I held a 

 few of them to the back of my hand. 



