476 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



attack them with boiling water without killing the plants, M. du Ribert 

 therefore took another course. After stirring well up the ant heaps and 

 removing the " eggs " he scattered over them a few handfuls of guano ; 

 and with such success, as he states, that his whole garden was presently 

 cleared. 



This gentleman regards guano as an ant poison, and he declares it to be 

 his conviction that under all circumstances its action will be the same. He 

 found it useful to water the guano slightly after having applied it, but it 

 does not appear that this was of so much consequence to the ants as to the 

 plants. 



In order to test this statement we have made a few experiments with the 

 following results : — 



1. A nest of the small black ant, formed among a tuft of aubrietia, was 

 well stirred up, and the eggs exposed. A small handful of guano having 

 been scattered over it, the ants were immediately thrown into confusion, the 

 business of removing the eggs came to a stand still, and by degrees the 

 ants disappeared. Water was added, and the nest once more stirred up. 

 At noon next day the eggs were found deserted, and the ants were gone. 



2. The same with a smaller nest in the hard dry clay of a lawn. Same 

 result. 



3. A large hill of the small red ant, very strongly entrenched among 

 Sedum populifoHum, was disturbed, and a handful of guano thrown over it ; 

 astonishment, commotion, confusion, scamper, helter skelter, immediately 

 ensued ; eggs again abandoned ; the army of ants quickly disappeared. A 

 pan was then half filled with earth from the same ant hill, mixed with a 

 swarm of ants and numberless eggs ; guano being applied the result was 

 similar. The eggs were instantly abandoned, and the ants endeavored to 

 escape. Water was added ; and tlie earth and guano mixed with a trowel. 

 Next day at noon there was no trace of life in the mixture. The eggs 

 were untouched and becoming brown. Whether the ants had escaped or 

 run away could not be ascertained. 



4. At 3 P. M. a pint wide-mouthed clear glass bottle was filled with some 

 hundreds of red ants, eggs, and the earth from another hill ; guano was ad- 

 ded, muslin was tied over the mouth of the bottle, and the proceedings 

 watched. As before, the eggs were abandoned, and the ants ran rapidly 

 backwards and forwards as if in much distress. The winged ones behaved 

 like the others, making no attempt to fly away. The bottle was left all 

 night in a warm room. At this moment, 10 A. M., the ground is strewed 

 with ants motionless and apparently dead ; the eggs remain mixed confu- 

 sedly with the earth, without an attempt having been made by the insects 

 to collect them. One winged and four wingless ants are crawling over the 

 surface. Beyond this no signs of life are apparent. 



Hence it seems that guano is fatal to the vitality of ants. How does it 

 act ? In the samples of guano employed the smell of ammonia was incon- 

 siderable, owing to long keeping. — [Gard. Chron., 1856, p. 531.) 



