12 



FARMERS BULLETIN 928. 



be controlled by the destruction of the ant alone. Presence of the 

 ants will not interfere with the control of these pests by spraying. 



TRAPPING THE ANT IN LOUISIANA. 



In Louisiana, owing to heavy annual rainfall, the ant colonies can 

 be collected in specially constructed traps and destroyed, a thorough 

 control thus being effected at moderate expense. Moreover, if this 

 method be followed diligently, permanent control, which at the same 

 time will eliminate the ant as a household pest, will be achieved. 

 This is by far the best and most practicable means of destroy- 

 ing the Argentine ant in the orange groves of Louisiana. 1 It 



is the only method 

 adapted to ant de- 

 struction in large 

 groves and can be 

 used equally well in 

 house lots. The trap- 

 ping method of de- 

 struction is based on 

 the fact that the ants 

 can be induced to 

 concentrate in popu- 

 lous colonies in arti- 

 ficial nests to avoid 

 rain and can there be 

 conveniently killed 

 by fumigation. The 

 trap box meets every 

 nesting requirement 

 of the ant under 

 Louisiana condi- 

 tions. Not only are 

 rains and cold ex- 

 cluded, but to a large 

 extent draughts and 

 light also. Larger 

 numbers of ants will 

 mass together in nu- 

 merous small colo- 

 nies than in a few 



Fiu. 1. Average killing of Argentine ants in ant trap used 

 in Louisiana orange groves. 



1 The discovery that the ants would nest in large numbers in boxes of decaying vegetation 

 in winter was first made by Messrs. Newell and Barber, who describe a method of destroy- 

 ing thorn based on this fact. (See TJ. S. Dept Agr. Bur. Ent. Bui. 122, p. 95-96.) The 

 trapping method described in the present bulletin depends upon the nesting ot' numerous 

 small colonies, that is, colonies averaging only from 100 to 160 queens each, in a 

 specially devised trap box which excludes rain. 



