Circular No. 7. July, 1907 



MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATIOlT 



ANTS. 



BY C. E. HOOD, B. S. 



These little creatures are found in various localities and under 

 various conditions, but tho.se with which we are most familiar are the 

 little red house ant and those occuring in lawns. 



THE LITTLE RED ANT. 



Mfluoniorium pJiaraonis (Linn.) 



These are the ants we find in food, in dishes and in many other 

 places around the house. It is not so much the loss caused by their 

 devouring food but their getting into everything, which is objection- 

 able. They are attracted to sweets, greases, dead insects and many 

 other things. They form their nests in any secluded spot either in 

 or just outside of the house. This species is also common in fields 

 and gardens where it sometimes does much injury to corn by gnaw- 

 ing the blades when but a few inches high for the purpose of drink- 

 ing the sweet exuding juice. Though a nuisance this ant has one 

 redeeming habit in that it is an efficient enemy of the bedbug. 



Each nest of these insects contains several females laying hundreds 

 of eggs each and attended by workers whose duty is to care for the 

 eggs and larvae and also to provide the females with food. The 

 females are rarely met with by the ordinary observer and the same is 

 true of the males. The wingless workers are by far the most numer- 

 ous and are the ones we commonly see infesting foods of all kinds. 



REMEDIES. 



If the ants can be traced to their nest they may be killed by mak- 

 ing a few holes about a foot apart with a stick and pouring into each, 

 a tablespoonful of bisulphide of carbon, then immediately covering 

 the holes with dirt. 



If the nest is located in a wall where the bisulphide of carbon 

 cannot be used, the location of the nest might be soaked with kero- 

 sene emulsion. If thoroughly done it would probably kill all the 

 insects. 



