— 
24 
THE ARGENTINE ANT. 
abundant throughout the entire summer and autumn, whereas 
during these portions of the year they are normally almost absent. 
It is in the orange groves of southern Louisiana, however, that 
this ant has probably inflicted the most serious injury. This injury 
is discussed at length on a subsequent page. Suffice it to say that 
at present the Argentine ant is there regarded as the most serious 
insect problem, owing to the marked increase of scale insects which 
follows its introduction and spread. The value of land in that 
section depends to a considerable extent upon the presence or absence 
of the Argentine ant. The ant also does considerable damage to the 
fig crop by boring through the ripened fruit or entering the calyx end 
of the ripening fig and tunneling the interior. It also assists in the 
' ^ Mi 
v 
■ - 
> ; & t* '3%p#* 
k > Y 
■%v-.-_-^^^. s 
w 
Fig. 3. 
-Injury to the stand of sugar cane by the sugar-cane mealy-bug (Pseudococcus calceolaria), which 
is attended by the Argentine ant. (Original.) 
increase of the destructive mealy-bug, Pseudococcus citri, which 
injures figs to a considerable extent. 
The ant is a veritable plague among honey bees, and beekeeping 
on any considerable scale is invariably abandoned after the ants 
become numerous. 
In the poultry yard this ant is a pest that must be reckoned with. 
The ants find the nests of sitting hens particularly attractive, and if 
perchance an egg be broken the ants will come in such numbers that 
the fowl will abandon her nest. The blood and fluids from partially 
incubated embryos are particularly liked by the ants, and when the 
eggs are hatching the workers swarm over the young chicks in such 
