ANTS 
house's a ml locate in trunks, boxes, drawers, 
and in almost any place where they can find 
a few inches of space to occupy. They are 
frequently found in the tops of our hives, if 
there is sufficient space above the bees under 
the cover. 
At sundown they start on their nightly 
quest of food; and if near an apiary a few 
of them will usually be seen running on some 
of the hives. As long as only two or three 
can be seen on any one hive, no special at¬ 
tention need be given them; but if a dozen 
or more are seen, it means that they have 
probably selected that hive for their own 
use, and it needs close watching. They will 
continue their regular attentions to that 
one hive, gradually increasing in numbers 
rintil they decide they are strong enough, 
when nearly the entire colony of ants will 
boldly attack the bees by biting off their 
wings and legs, and crippling them so they 
are of no more use. Bees fight back courage¬ 
ously, the battle continuing for hours, and 
sometimes a day or two, according to the 
relative strength of the two belligerents: 
The inside of the hive and the ground near 
by will be strewn with dead ants and dead 
and crippled bees; .but it always ends with 
the destruction of all the bees, and the 
moving into and occupation of the hive by 
the ant colony. When ants have once chosen 
a certain colony of bees to work on, the bee- 
master has to destroy the ants, or they will 
in time destroy the bees. If a part only, of 
the ants are destroyed, they will simply bide 
their time until they have built up strong- 
enough, and then do the work. I know of 
few oy no living creatures more persistent in 
evil works than are these bee-killing ants. 
They also, in certain localities, do great dam¬ 
age to queen-rearing nuclei. 
During' the fall months I make it a prac¬ 
tice almost every evening after dark in my 
home apiary, and as often as possible in the 
out-apiaries, to see by the light of a lantern 
the front of every hive; and any one on 
which I see three or four or more ants run¬ 
ning over has a mark placed on it. If the 
number of ants on any one of these marked 
hives increases each night, I give that hive 
special attention until the ants get numer¬ 
ous enough to begin to worry the bees. When 
this occurs, bees commence to whine, as I 
call it—that is, utter a fine, sharp note with 
their wings. As the ants gets bolder the cry 
of the bees becomes louder and more fre¬ 
quent—so much so that I have frequently 
heard it 50 feet away. The ants usually 
worry the bees continually for several nights, 
when suddenly the whole colony of ants 
starts in on a battle royal, which continues 
for hours or even a day or two, until every 
bee is disabled or driven out. A great many 
of the ants will also be killed; but how the 
bees do this is a mystery to me. 
When the battle has once been joined, the 
beekeeper has a difficult task to save the 
bees; but this condition is preventable. 
When the ants become plentiful enough at 
the hive to begin worrying the bees, there 
is usually a trail of going and returning ants; 
from their nest to the hive, and this can 
usually be located and traced to their nest, 
which, when found, should be left undis¬ 
turbed until the following day, when all the 
ants will be at home. If the nest cannot be 
found the first time trying, I search again 
until it is found. As soon as the nest is 
found, or search for it is given up for that 
night, I sprinkle some insect powder on their 
trail near the hive; also wherever on or 
around the hive I can do so to worry the 
ants and not injure the bees. This will 
usually keep the ants from doing any more 
harm that night. 
The next day when all the ants are at 
home, I take a kettle of boiling water, tear 
open the nest, and, if possible, kill every ant 
and egg. If a few of them are left they are 
likely to gather together, increase in time to 
their former strength, and again attack that 
same colony of bees. Whenever the nest is 
found in a box or piece of wood that can be 
easily moved with all the ants, the easiest 
and best plan is to carry them into the 
chicken-yard, break open the nest, and the 
hens will gladly do the rest of the business. 
They are very fond of both ants and eggs; 
and they not only find them good to eat, but 
give their owner lots of fun watching the 
old rooster especially, kick and scold every 
time an ant bites one of his feet. I have 
had many a hearty laugh watching this per¬ 
formance. 
The ants are a great pest here in Florida. 
They destroy in the aggregate a great many 
colonies every fall.. I know of one apiary 
which was entirely lost, largely, I judge 
from what I hear, by these ants. At the 
best they are a great nuisance because they 
compel the beekeeper to remain at home 
watching them at a season of the year when 
nothing is doing in the apiary, and the 
apiarist could, but for them, be aw T ay on a 
holiday, or have some outside business. 
Stuart, Fla. O. 0. Poppleton. 
Ants are a serious pest to bees in many 
tropical countries, notably in South Amer¬ 
ica, where they are omnipresent and almost 
omnipotent. A species similar to that de¬ 
scribed by Mr. Poppleton in Florida exists 
all over tropical America, particularly 
in the southern continent. He has so 
graphically described it, there is no neces¬ 
sity to enlarge on it further. The worst 
feature of these ants is their readiness to 
travel, so that, when one does destroy their 
nests, there is no assurance that the apiary 
is safe from their attacks. Another bad 
feature ; s their habit of traveling by night; 
in fact, nearly all their depredations are 
made in the dark. 
To circumvent them it is necessary to 
