The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-09-10


But more important yet, aphis are
thick on all the trees and bushes. In
vestigation has proved that the ants
protect these from parasites and the
ladybugs, and move the little lice from
leaf to leaf, carrying them carefully
so as to not injure them. This friendly
action is due to selfish cause, the ants
preferring to all other food the honey
the winged parasites, preventing them
from laying their eggs among the eggs
of the aphids, and fight the ladybugs
in person, rushing them in bodies and
literally rending them from limb to
| limb. In consequence the aphids work
unmolested, and kill the trees.
OF fruits the oranges are in the
greatest danger. AS soon as the bios
som opens, the Argentine ants swarm
up the trees until each flower is black
with them, and looks at a distance like
plum. They destroy all the blossoms
on every tree and finish the crop be-
fore it is started. In Louisiana the
orange crop was once important. Now,
in the affected districts, there is none.
The ant life history, as studied by
Mr.. Day, showed that the larvae which
this spring and that from these long
| dormant eggs the queens were Matched.
Many drones and workers also Matched
| at that time, but no queens Matched
later. The existing queens and the new
ones then began to lay, the new ones
beginning a month later than the
! Others. All have been laying at the
rate of forty eggs a day ever since
NIL 10 Ii
summer. As every Garden has several
hundred thousand queens waiting at
home below the surface for the work ers
to bring the food and care for the
larvae, the rate of increase is seen to
be almost beyond reckoning. To each
| queen there is an average of two hun
dred workers.
In their domestic economy the work
ers attend to the eggs at all stages,
| nursing the larvae and carrying them
from hot to cold and wet to dry places
as necessary. They also bring the food
When they become dissatisfied with
| their surroundings, which happens fire.
quently, they move and colonize some
where else.
Queens often get the wander fever,
and, forsaking their followers, set out
| up other followers, which, being re-
tainers by caste, will follow one queen
| as readily as another. The new colony
establishes itself across the street or in
the next garden. In this way their
work is thorough and as they leave no
| crack unentered they spread rapidly
The warmer the weather the harder
the ants work, and in the middle of
frpnnnntlI- IN,
close their houses and go to unaffected
districts until the heat has passed.
Infants can never be left alone where
there are Argentine ants, the prying
little creatures lining up in rows about
the child's mouth and distressing it
| with their bites.
There is really no effective way of
keeping them from any place which at
tracts them except by solid construc-
ton. Kerosene on water frequently
| acts merely as convenient footing
upon which they can pass. The sur
face of fresh water is almost suffi-
cient support and as soon as a slight
coating of dust collects they can skip
across with impunity. Running water
is the only effective barrier. Bands
of kerosene, crude oil, tar, oils of sas-
safras and citronella, tree tanglefoot,
zenoleum, naphthaline, coal tar disin-
fectants, whale oil soap, sharp edges of
tin and fur have all been used as bar
riers without success.
AS the queen often lives a dozen
years, each laying 5000 eggs a summer,
the increase reaches the astounding
figure of 100000 per cent. annually.
Ten years, Professor Woodwork be-
lieves, will be ample time for the ants
to take possession of the whole state
unless something drastic is done while
there is a chance.
Considering this awful possibility,
| the results obtained by Mr.. Day are
especially important. Studying the life
history of the ants, he discovered two
vulnerable points, one that the work.
ers will carry poison home to the
queens, and the other that the queens
all hatch from the larvae which have
laid undeveloped all winter. Later,
he expects to find a way of destroying
these brooding larvae during the win
ter, but at present he is combining his
attention to peIfecting his poisoning
system.
This, as menuioned, has the distinct
advantage of being easily conducted
| Recently ten or more people day have
been at the experiment station to re-
ceive instructions in handling it, and
the result has already been the death
of untold millions of ants. If the peo-
pie in the affected district in East
| Oakland or in any other section make
concerted effort, they can reduce the
ants to ! or , per cent. of what they
are at present. 1t will take continuous
action, but very little on the part of
any one person.
Mr.. Days own experiments with one
block will give point to this statement.
When he first experimental with poison
in syrup, he chose double block in the
district where the ants were thickest.
There are thirty-two houses on it, with
many fruit trees and large gardens.
Things had reached state where life
on the block was almost intolerable.
Absolutely all means to keep the ants
ont of tha food had fai1ed and anv.