64 Circular No. 15. 



dwelling and refused to be driven out by any ordinary treat- 

 ment known to the housekeeper. They get into sugar bowls, 

 upon cakes and other pastry, into sirup, and, in fact, almost 

 anything edible. They are thus likely to be brought to the table, 

 to the great mortification of those who take pride in neat house- 

 keeping. For it is no reflection upon anyone's carefulness that 

 these persistent creatures now and then invade a dwelling and 

 refuse to be routed out. Two different species seem to occasion 

 most of the complaints, tho others at times appear about houses. 

 The smaller of the two (Monomorium minimum) is a dusky or 

 blackish species which lives outside buildings, sometimes under 

 the bricks of walks, and comes into and goes out of houses by 

 chosen routes, pretty constantly adhered to. The individuals 

 commonly seen are all wingless workers, which have duties in 

 the colony similar to those of worker bees. They do the forag- 

 ing and take care of the young. When the colony is exposed, 

 there will generally be found among the workers a large ant, 

 the fertile mother of the colony, whose duties are exactly those 

 of the queen bee, namely, the laying of eggs and the production 

 of new members of the colony. At certain times, generally early 

 spring, most such insects produce small winged males, which 

 soon die after mating with winged females, which then return 

 to the earth to found new colonies after discarding their wings. 

 These simple facts will make clear the reason why a thoro 

 destruction of the nest and queen of the little marauders will 

 more certainly put a stop to their depredations than anything 

 else that can be done. 



A second house-infesting ant (Monomorium pharaonis) is 

 commonly known as the red ant, tho yellow in color. It is 

 an introduced species and seems to be more completely adapted 

 to a life in dwellings than its smaller dusky relative. It makes 

 its home between floors in walls and seems to be, like the bed- 

 bug, an associate and parasite of man. Because of its nesting 

 habits it is more difficult to get rid of than the small black spe- 

 cies, and often housekeepers despair of suppressing it entirely 

 after expending, as they claim, all their ingenuity, and after 

 testing all the suggestions made by economic entomologists. Its 



