16 BULLETIN 965, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Several small nursery trees infested with the cottony-cushion 

 scale, Icerya purchasi Maskell, attended by ants, were banded with 

 such tape to determine its effectiveness against the ants, as well as 

 its effects on the trees. The trees were quickly freed of ants and 

 remained so throughout the experiment. The tape, however, soon 

 killed the bark down to the wood and the trees ultimately died. 



Fourteen large orange trees were banded with mercuric bichlorid ant 

 tape on September 10, 1915, the tape being wound around the tree 

 several times to form a band several inches wide. The bark was 

 protected from the band by heavy paper. On October 10, one month 

 after the bands were placed, an inspection showed that 5 of the 14 

 bands had been crossed. These had been rendered ineffective by 

 heavy fogs. 



The great danger attendant upon the use of corrosive sublimate, 

 its ineffectiveness when exposed to moisture, and its high cost render 

 this substance generally impractical for repelling ants. It is, how- 

 ever, of special value for protecting apiaries which are seriously 

 troubled by this pest. Newell and Barber,'' working in Louisiana, 

 invented a four-legged hive stand from which they were able to keep 

 the ants for many months by winding ant tape about the legs. The 

 writers have tried a similar stand under California conditions with 

 success, even where honey and other substances attractive to ants 

 were profusely scattered over the top. Equally satisfactory with the 

 ant tapes was found a mixture of mercuric bichlorid and shellac 

 which could be applied directly with a brush. A formula adapted 

 from Horton ^ consists of : 



Corrosive sublimate gm. .20 or oz. .f. 



Alcohol cc . . . 60 or oz . . 2. 



Shellac gm. .31 or oz..l. 



The corrosive sublimate is first dissolved in the alcohol, then the shellac added, 

 and the mixture shaken until all is dissolved. 



Freeing Trees op Ants After Banding. 



Freeing trees of ants after banding is an essential part of tree isola- 

 tion. Heavy infestations of ants at the time of banding will some- 

 times form a crossing over bands of sticky material from the accumula- 

 tion of entangled bodies of ants which have attempted to escape from 

 the tree. With corrosive sublimate or ant powders such attempted 

 crossing in no way affects the efficiency of the bands; in fact, on such 

 banded trees ants usually drop off before making an attempted 

 crossing and the trees become free of ants unless colonies are already 

 present in cracks or accumulations of debris in the crotches. Many 



6 Newell, Wilmon, and Barber, T. C. Op. cit., p. 88-91, figs. 11-13, PI. vn. 



'Horton, J. R. the argenti[NE ant in relation to citrus groves. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bui. 647, 

 p. 64. 1918. 



