108 



A much larger black or brownish ant (Camponotus herculeanus var. 

 pennsylvanicus) often builds its nests in door-yards so close to the houses 

 that it becomes a great nuisance, overrunning the rooms, and even get- 

 ting into the clothes, so as to be a personal discomfort. A case was 

 brought to my notice two years ago in Washington, where a fine old 

 homestead was on the point of being sold on account of the annoyance 

 caused by these ants. An investigation showed one enormous nest sev- 

 eral feet in diameter in the back yard, and several colonies here and 

 there in other parts of the premises. The large colony was completely 

 destroyed by the use of bisulphide of carbon. A teaspoonful was poured 

 down each of a number of openings, and a damp blanket was thrown 

 over them for a few minutes. Then, the blanket being removed, the 

 bisulphide was exploded at the mouth of each hole by means of a light 

 at the end of a pole. The slight explosions drove the poisonous fumes 

 down through the underground tunnels, killing off the ants in enormous 

 numbers. The mains ource of the trouble being thus destroyed, the nui- 

 sance was greatly lessened, and all talk of selling the old place has 

 ceased. 



IDENTITY OF SCHIZONEURA PANICOLA Thos. AND S. CORNI Fab. 



By Herbert Osborx. 



Hitherto the species of Schizoneura infesting grass roots and dog- 

 wood leaves, respectively, have been considered strictly distinct species, 

 and, so far as I can learn, no suspicion has been expressed that they 

 bore any relationship to each other. 



My observations the present season establish, I think, beyond ques- 

 tion the identity of the species, ancfthat the insects migrate by a 

 winged viviparous brood during the first frosty weather of autumn from 

 the roots of grasses to the leaves of Dogwood, where they establish 

 colonies in great numbers. 



Mr. Clarence M. Weed has described the autumn viviparous form and 

 the sexual generation and eggs produced on Cornus leaves by what is 

 evidently the same species, though he refers it to cornicola Walsh. It 

 is reasonably certain, therefore, that eggs deposited on Cornus twigs 

 by the sexual autumn form hatch in spriug, producing broods which in 

 early summer give rise to a winged brood making the return migration 

 to roots of grasses. 



The full record of observations and evidence establishing this con- 

 nection can best be presented with observations on the further habits 

 of the species and when certain other points are determined, but the 

 connection of the two species seems a point of sufficient interest to 

 merit the immediate attention of entomologists. 



It maybe stated here, however, that winged individuals of 8. pani- 



