ANTS CONQUER PARIS
Entire buildings are infected with this vermin

Three years ago, Paris declared war on rats, and a Homeric struggle followed to rid certain particularly threatened neighborhoods of the terrible rodents, then, the following year, following the Senegalese heat, a invasion of fleas, which the suburban towns had great difficulty in repelling. This year, here is a new vermin offensive. It is reported that a number of buildings in the capital are plagued by excess ants. In myriads, in tight battalions, this vermin attacks homes, enters homes through small gaps, slips into all the crevices, establishes veritable anthills, from where it spreads, hungry , on the food of the housewives. If we commit the imprudence, after the meal, of leaving a piece of meat on the table, ten minutes have not passed before it is black with voracious creatures. The bread is holed, torn; sugar particularly attracts their sweet tooth and soon becomes strewn with these stubborn animalcules.

Better still, these ants attack the hands and legs of the unfortunate tenants, like common fleas. This morning we collected complaints from residents of two particularly infested buildings in the 10th arrondissement, rue de Mazagran and rue de l'Échiquier. All the ingredients and disinfectants, formalin and crezyl in the lead, have not so far broken the offensive of the invading critters. The most hermetically sealed boxes do not escape the priesthood

We went to the official laboratory on rue de la Douane, whose director is, as we know, Professor Bordas, member of the Superior Council of Hygiene of the city of Paris. This practitioner and his services had, as we recall, established the campaign plan against the invasion of rats, and obtained, given the limited means at their disposal, very appreciable results. They tirelessly continue their fight against the vermin which is corroding certain districts of Paris. — These little ants, we were told, must have been brought by market gardeners. A deposit of vegetables or fruit in a restaurant or at a fruit merchant is enough to form a sort of anthill from which insects emerge, climb, invade. Ants swarm very quickly if the season is favorable and become ferocious if they are hungry. They can reach plants in apartments, flower pots on balconies, which are so many safe havens for them, from which it is very difficult to dislodge them.

These critters have a very hard life. In certain countryside houses are invaded by them, but in the towns the case is rarer. As with rats, it is important not to feed this creature, that is to say, not to leave anything lying around as food. Meticulous cleanliness of the rooms is essential. As with fleas, lemongrass can be used as a spray in infested areas. If this invasion takes on larger proportions, we will see to establishing a counter-offensive plan. But let's hope that with the first cold weather, the ants will retreat. But let's not let them settle in warm apartments. Here is the war on ants declared,