THE AKGENTINE ANT. 11 
HISTORY AND DISTRIBUTION. 
As stated on another page, this species was first described by Dr. 
Gustav Mayr from specimens collected near Buenos Aires, in Argen- 
tina. It is also included in the list of Argentine ants by Dr. Carlos 
Berg. 1 Its occurrence in the Argentine Republic is therefore unques- 
tioned, and that Argentina is its native home is also borne out by the 
fact that it does not appear to be generally a pest of importance in that 
country. Dr. F. Lahille, of the Argentine department of agriculture, 
in a letter to the senior author, states that it "is uncommon in 
Buenos Aires and in Argentina generally, where it does not cause 
annoyance or trouble of value." Mr. Arthur H. Rosenfeld, formerly 
associated with the writers in entomological work in Louisiana and 
now located at Tucuman, Argentina, writes that he has been unable 
to find the species there. Rev. E. Wasmann, S. J., states that this 
ant "is a native of Brazil and Argentina," and Rev. Albert Biever, 
S. J., of Loyola College, New Orleans, whose careful studies of 
this species are mentioned on other pages, has corresponded with 
various priests in Brazil and Argentina, with the result that he finds 
that this species is a serious pest in parts of Brazil and evidently in 
Argentina also. For example, in a letter to Father Biever, Rev. J. 
Ferol, S. J., of the Colegio del Salvador, Buenos Aires, writes: 
The ants (Iridomyrmex humilis) of which your reverence makes mention are of no 
utility whatsoever, but on the contrary are voracious and destructive. Of means 
employed to destroy them the most effective, according to information given me, is 
the use of an instrument and ingredient of which inclosed herein I send a prospectus 
and instructions concerning its use and functions. 
Forel 2 mentions its occurrence in collections from the States of Sao 
Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil. Wheeler 3 also mentions 
its occurrence in that country. Dr. Lahille also states that the 
Argentine ant occurs in Uruguay and is "especially common in 
Mercedes and Montevideo," cities not far removed from Buenos Aires. 
According to Stoll 4 and Wheeler 5 the Argentine ant, after its 
accidental introduction into the island of Madeira, entirely extermi- 
nated another ant, Pheidole megacepliala Fab., which was itself an 
introduced species that had exterminated the native ants before it. 
In 1907 M. N. Martins 6 recorded the occurrence of this ant in 
Lisbon and Oporto, Portugal, and gave a vivid account of its ravages 
in those cities and their environs. 
i Enumeracidn sistematica y sinonSmica de los Formicidos Argentines, Chilenos y Uruguayos. 1890. 
2 Ameisen aus Sao Paulo (Brasilien), Paraguay, etc. Verhandlungen der k. k. zool.-bot. Ges. in Wien, 
1908. 
s Entomological News, January, 1906, p. 24. 
4 Zur Kenntnis der geographischen Verbreitung der Ameisen, Mitth. Schweiz. Ent. Ges., vol. 10, pp. 
120-126, 1898. 
& Ants: Their structure, development, and behavior, p. 154, 1910. 
6 Une fourmi terrible envahissant l'Europe (Iridomyrmex humilis Mayr). Broteria Revista de Sciencias 
Naturaes, vol. 6, pt. 1, pp. 101-102, 1907. 
