156 



Ethnological data shows that the weaving of cotton cloth was prac- 

 ticed in tropical America for many centuries before the arrival of Euro- 

 peans, and the probability is great th it the plant itself is a native of 

 this hemisphere In being carried to other countries it was taken be- 

 yond the reach of bo'h the friends and the enemies which had devel- 

 oped with it. The boll weevil has migrated northward with the exten- 

 sion of the area of cotton cultivation into Mexico and Texas, but the 

 ant has not yet followed. The question now is, whether it can be in- 

 duced to do so. The Mexican entomologists seem not to have found 

 the ant in that country, in the northern states of which the weevil has 

 been reported as very destructive. 



That the ants are so localized in their distribution in this part of 

 Guatemala has undoubtedly served the better to demonstrate their value 

 as protectors of the cotton plant ; it suggests al-so, with other facts, the 

 probability that they are not native here, but have spread eastward ia 

 smaller or larger colonies as the forests were cl ared away by the In- 

 dians. The present occupation of the eastern di'^tricts of Alta Vera 

 Paz by the Indians does not date back more than a few generat ons, 

 though abundant evidences of much more ancient iahabitants are found 

 in ihe apparently primeval forests. The ants, like the Indians, pro- 

 bably came from the dry, open interior plateau region, where the cen- 

 ter of the aboriginal cotton industry of Guatemala is still located, 

 and where another visit to the ants is to be paid in the next few days. 

 To establish the fact o^ such an origin for this useful insect would 

 greatly increase the probability of its successful introduction into the 

 United States The acclimatization of a thoroughly tropica] animal, 

 requiring continuous heat and humidity could scarcely be hoped for 

 If, however, the cotton ant can survive a 1- ng dry season and perhaps 

 cold weather in the tablelands of Guatemala, it might easily learn to 

 hibernate in Texas, as has the boll weevil. The ant, indeed, is much 

 better able to protect itself against frost, since it excavates a nest 3 feet 

 or more into the ground. That it is a reasonably hardy insect is shown 

 also by the fact that several individuals have survived confinement of 

 twelve days without food, und seem now to be thriving on a diet for 

 cane juice. To take worker ants to Texas will be, evidently, a very 

 easy matter, but to secure queens and establish permanent colonies may 

 require considerable time and experiment and a thorough study of all 

 the habits of the species. 



Although the cotton seems to be especially adapted to attract the 

 ant by means of its numerous nectaiies, the insect is not, like some of 

 the members of its class, confined to a single plant or to a single kind 

 of prey. It was observed running about on plants of many different 

 families, and it attacks and destroys insects of every order, including 

 the hemiptera, und even centipedes. On the other hand, it does not do 

 the least injury to the cotcon or to any other plant, S) far as has been 

 ascertained, and it can be handled with impunity, having none of the 

 waspish ill temper of so many of the stinging and biting ants of the 

 tropici. Since where once established it exists in large numbers and 

 seeks its prey actively, it is a much more efficient destroyer of noxious 

 insects than the spider or the toad. It seem, in short, not unlikely to 

 become a valued assistant in the agriculture of tropical and sub-tropical 



