96 



PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



its entire existence in houses, having its nests in the walls or beneath 

 the flooring, and usually forming its new colonies in similar favorable 

 situations. Two other ants are very common nuisances in houses, 

 namely, the little black ant (Monomorium minutum Mayr) and the 

 pavement ant of the Atlantic Seaboard (Tetramorium ccespitum Linn.). 

 ^None of these ants are so destructive to household effects or supplies 

 as they are annoying from the mere fact of their presence and their 

 faculty for ''getting into*' articles of food, particularly sugars, sirups, 

 and other sweets. Having once gained access to stores of this sort, 

 the news of the discovery is at once conveyed to the colony, and in an 

 incredibl}' short time the premises are swarming with these unwelcome 

 visitors. 



In habits and life history these ants are all much alike, and, in com- 

 mon with other social insects, present that most complex and inter- 

 esting phase of communal life, with its accompanying division of labor 

 and diversity of forms of individuals, all working together in the most 



perfect harmony and accord. The spec- 

 imens ordinarily seen in houses are all 

 neuters, or workers. In the colony itself, 

 if it be discovered and 

 opened, will be found 

 also the larger wing- 

 less females and, at 

 tlie proper season, the 

 winged males and fe- 

 males. During most 

 of the year, however, 

 the colony consists 

 female; b, a i mos t exclusively of 

 workers, with one or 

 more perfect wingless females. Winged males and females are pro- 

 duced during the summer and almost immediately take their nuptial 

 flight. The males soon perish, and the females shortly afterwards 

 tear ofl' their own wings, which are but feebly attached, and set about 

 the establishment of new colonies. The eggs, which are produced 

 in extraordinary numbers by the usually solitary queen mother, are 

 very minute, oval, whitish objects, and are cared for by the workers, 

 the young larvae being fed in very much the same way as in the colo- 

 nies of the hive bee. The so-called ant eggs, in the popular concep- 

 tion, are not eggs at all, but the white larvae and pupre, and, if of 

 females or males, are much larger than the workers and many times 

 larger than the true eggs. 



As a house species the red ant (Monomorium pliaraoni* Linn.) (fig. 43) 

 is the common one. It is practically cosmopolitan, and its exact origin 

 is unknown. This species, nesting habitually in the walls of houses or 

 beneath flooring, is often difficult to eradicate. There is no means of 



Fig. 43.— The red ant (Monomorium pharaonis): 

 worker — enlarged (from Riley). 





