Los Angeles herald., 1908-08-23

an assistant in the chronological de-
partment of the University of Califor-
mia. The species was not recognized by
him at the time as anything unusual,
and only within the last two months
has the presence of the Argentine ant
in the state been known. The identifi-
cation of the insect was made by Prof.
W. NJ Wheeler of the American Muse
um of Natural History, to whom these
specimens of ants collected by Mr..
Bradley had been submitted for 1denti-
fication. DIR. Wheeler at once made
known the character of the insect, ana
the writer has just returned from trip
east where he consulted with Mr.. Brad
ley and DR.. Wheeler, and then proceed
ed to New Orleans and had opportunity
to study the insect in that region ID.
S. G. Titus, who was the representative
of the United States division of ento-
mology to study the pest in New Or
leans. has also recently visited with
me one of the infested areas in this
state and verified the insect in the lab
oratory and field.
The exact locality of the collection
made by Mr.. Bradley has not been de-
termined 1t was supposed by him to
be Ontario, but very careful examlna-
ton OF the ants in that district has
been made without finding this species
1t has been found abundantly, howev-
er, in the following localities: East
, Oakland, Alameda, San Francisco, San
Jose, Cupertino and point near Camp
bell. In the southern part OF the state
Prof. III. j. Quayle has just located
small colony in Los Angeles, and an
other at Azusa, and third at Upland.
Some In Los Angeles
The Argentine ant is primarily trou-
blesome as a household pest, but in
Louisiana 1t has also proven of first
importance in the sugar cane fields ana
in the orange orchards. The writer
fears that, besides its other injurious
habits, it may not be second in impor-
tance from the orange growers stand
point to the Introduction of the white
fly, to which attention was called by
this station a year ago, and which
seems to be gradually spreading over
the state. OF course, there is a possi-
bility that the insect may not prove
equally troublesome in all parts of Cal
ifornia on account of our peculiar cli-
mate; but, on the other hand, 1t may
prove even more troublesome than at
New Orleans Indeed, Prof. Newell of
the Louisiana crop commission, who
has given more attention to a careful
study of this insect than any one else,
expressed to me his belief that our
climate would be more favorable for
the ant than that of Louisiana. At any
rate, the possibility of the insect be-
coming a pest in California compar-
able to the work it has already done I'm
Louisiana should cause us to give the
matter the most serious consideration.
History in other Countries
As the name Argentine ant suggests,
the insect was first described from the
Argentine republic. 1t is common also
In Brazil and Is doubtless native to the
southern part of South America. No
one has given us an account of the
seriousness of the insect In its native
country The only record we have Of
the insect in other countries is its pres
ence In Madeira, where 1t was reported
as long ago as 1898 to have entirely
displaced other species and become ap-
parently the same sort of pest which
1t has proved to be about New Orleans.
1T was noted as early as 1891 along the
wharves in New Orleans, where the
coffee ships from Brazil were docked.
BY 1895 another region five Or six miles
up the river was noticed to be infested.
In 1893 they were already present at
Audubon park. BY 1904 Mr.. Titus Of
the United States department of agri-
culture who was the first to give us
a fun account OF these insects, records
them from many points along the rail-
roads leading out of New Orleans, as
we'll as large part of the town. Pro-
fessor Newell this year reports them
as occupying fully i've thousand
square miles OF territory, extending