They are extremely active; the residents of New Orleans have 
christened them “the crazy ant.” since when a column is disturbed 
it breaks up, the ants running aimlessly about in every direction. 
Professor Wheeler, of the American Museum of Natural History, 
has very kindly examined specimens of the workers and states that 
they appear to be identical with Zridomyrmex humilis Mayr. This 
species has been hitherto reported only from tropical regions. The 
genus is quite closely related to Tapinoma, but this species can be 
separated by the presence of a distinct, erect, sharp-edged scale and 
by the fact that the abdomen does not project forward, nor in any 
way conceal this scale. The workers are from 2% to 2.50 mm. in 
jength, pale brown in color, head and thorax rugose, abdomen shin- 
ing, but shghtly pubescent. | 
The New Orleans tradesmen early took advantage of the annoy- 
ances caused by the ant, and now every grocery and drug store in the 
infested area has for sale one or more “ant killers,” “ ant poisons,” 
“ant preventives,” etc. These consist of tapes saturated with cor- 
rosive sublimate; corrosive sublimate solutions to be painted on 
walls and legs of tables and chairs; hydrocyanic-acid preparations; 
coal-oil mixtures; and others having trade names, the compositions 
of which are kept secret by the manufacturers. 
The use of corrosive-sublimate tapes and of cloths saturated with 
coal oi! appears to be the most successful means of keeping the ants 
away. The use of carbon bisulphid to destroy the nests will be futile 
unless it can be taken up by the whole community. A nest will be 
reoccupied in a few days after having been dosed with carbon bisul- 
phid, and cleaning out the ants in any section will be a waste of time 
and money unless all other surrounding sections are immediately 
treated. 
Mr. Sanderson said that he could corroborate the statements in 
the paper as to the severity of the attacks. In Morgan City they 
were at times simply unbearabie. : 
Mr. Surface-asked how these ants are disseminated by the methods 
described, which would presumably apply only to the workers. If 
the queens were not present they could not become established in the 
new locality unless the workers reproduce parthenogencetically. 
Mr. Titus said that the life history had been little studied and 
that many of these points were still not clear, but it might bea fact that 
in this group queens were not always necessary to establish colonies. 
In the absence of the author, the following paper was read by Mr. 
Gillette: 
