}7 



Aside from ants, two humble bees, one Augochlnra sp., eight 

 wasps and two ichneumons comprise the representatives of the 

 Hymeuoptei-a recognized in the stomachs examined. Ants are the 

 most constant food-element found in the stomachs and constitute 

 nineteen per cent of the total food for the season. The highest per- 

 centage of these insects was recorded in May when ants were found in 

 twenty-one of the thirty stomachs examined, formed thirty-three per 

 cent of their contents and twenty-three per cent of the food for that 

 month. The toad is a well known ant-eater and one occasionally 

 sees it even at midday, emerging from its hiding place to feed upon 

 a passing swarm. Opinions differ as to the economic value of ants. 

 They are such models of industry and show such a high grade of 

 intelligence that some authorities are disposed to 

 regard their short-comings with a lenient eye. Con- 

 cerning the value of the species of Camjwnotiis and 

 Formica the writer sought the oi)inion of Prof. L. 

 O. Howard and received the following i-eply : ''I 

 have talked with Mr. Pergande, who has long 

 studied our ants, as you doubtless know, and I am 

 able to give you the following information : On 

 Fig. 4. The Red Ant, the whole the character of the common black ants of 



Monomorium phur- ^ _^ . . 



aonix. the genera Cavijwnotufi and ronmca is negative. 



They feed upon dead insects and, to some little extent, on living 

 insects, and on honey dew, whether secreted by plant lice, bark lice, 

 galls, or by the nectar glands of plants themselves. The numl)er of 

 injurious insects killed, on the whole, is very small. They do not 

 transport plant lice and care for them to any extent ; that is to say, 

 they are not anything like as injurious in this way as are ants of 

 other genera. They are occasionally somewhat annoying in houses, 

 but do not form their nests in the timber of buildings unless it is 

 rather decayed." 



The chief service rendered by ants is the killing of a few injurious 

 insects. On the other hand they infest lawns and houses and render 

 themselves generally obnoxious around the dwellings of man. Dur- 

 ing the past summer I have observed somewhat closely the habits of 

 the species most frequently found in the stomachs, Campcmotns 

 pennsylvaniciis DeG. and have seen them destroy but few living 

 insects while they did destroy a large number of moths on spreading 

 boards and committed many other depredations around our Maiden 

 laboratory. In the vicinity of Boston where many buildings are sup- 



