270 
boring caterpillars have been. When the moth or beetle escapes 
and flies away, ants frequently occupy the boring, and might 
easily be accused of having produced it. We are fortunately 
free from the leaf cutting ants, which are so destructive in South 
America, and I have not as yet seen any species which devours 
foliage of any kind. 
Some ants are undoubtedly friends to the planter while some 
are foes, others do both harm and good. The best known ant 
here, the Keringga, Formica smaragdina, which makes its nest 
by weaving together the leaves of the tree it inhabits, and which 
is so well known for its pugnacity and its sharp bite, must be 
classed with the latter. Its presence on a tree usually evidences 
the presence of one or other of the blights, (Coccida) and if that 
is destroyed the Keringga soon quits. I have, however, little 
doubt that it carries the coccidse about and puts them on trees, 
for I have several times seen cocci, lying loose often on their 
backs in the nest, in a position not at all natural to them, they 
having evidently been brought from elsewhere and dumped 
down in the nest to serve as food supplies for the ants, who as is 
well known obtain from these insects a sweet exudation of which 
the}' are veiy fond. Again in the tunnels made by borers end 
1 vter occupied by ants, it is not at all uncommon to find blight 
in a position which it is in the highest degree improbable that 
these insects should have got of tnemselves. It is needless to 
say that as the blight represents the milch cows of the Keringga 
the latter does not kill them but rather protects them. In this 
way this ant may be said to be injurious. Another objection to 
it is its ferocity as when it is abundant it makes the gathering of 
fruit or pruning almost impossible. It may also do a small 
amount of damage by bending the leaves together, and causing 
arrest of their growth or death. 
It has, however, some gooa points in its favour, and the chief 
of these is its ferocity towards caterpillars. Only specially pro- 
tected catei pillars can live on a tree infested withKeringgas, and 
it has been found sometimes advantageous not only to leave the 
ants nests on a fruit tree, but to put fresh nests on the tree to 
induce the ants to destroy the caterpillars. When it is neces- 
sary to clear the trees of the ants the nests should be broken with 
sticks when the larvae and eggs will fall to the ground and be lost 
or eaten by other animals, and this unless there is much blight 
generally gets rid of them. Another plan is to hang pieces c 
meat on a string from the branches, the ants will come to eat ic 
and can be destroyed by dipping the meat into boiling water, or 
what is easier applying a damar torch to them. In this way my- 
riads can be killed. The ordinary insecticides such as Paris 
Green may also be used, but it will be necessary to break the 
nests up first or the ants will retrea 1 therein and escape the spray. 
Another very small black ant may often be seen traversing the 
paths in long rows, having previously thrown up a line of earth on 
either side of their track. Their nests are in the ground, and 
they go out to forage along the track for some days. These ants 
