THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION AND BREEDING HABITS OF 
THE COTTON-PROTECTING KELEP OF GUATEMALA. 
INTRODUCTION. 
In preceding reports treating of the kelep as an enemy of the cotton 
boll weevil the distinctness of its behavior from that of the true ants 
has been noted. To avoid in some measure the misapprehension likely 
to be caused by calling it an ant it seemed desirable to introduce with 
the insect its distinctive Indian name, /elep. In the minds of the 
natives of Guatemala, the kelep is not a kind of ant, but an inde- 
pendent animal not to be associated with ants. The more we learn 
about 1t the more this aboriginal opinion appears justified, not alone 
because the kelep is a beneficial insect, but because it has a different 
mode of existence and a different place in the economy of nature. 
The popular classification of the social Hymenoptera recognizes 
three types—the ants, the bees, and the wasps, the ants being distin- 
guished from the others by the absence of wings. The kelep falls, 
however, into none of these groups. To call it a wasp or a bee would 
not misrepresent the practical facts more than to call it an ant. In 
reality the kelep represents a fourth category of social Hymenoptera, 
-as distinct from the other three as they are from each other. Authori- 
ties on the classification of the Hymenoptera have admitted a rather 
close affinity between the wasps and the ants, but the kelep differs 
irom both of these groups and approaches the bees in important 
respects, and especially in those which affect the question of its 
domestication and utilization in agriculture. 
It was naturally supposed at first that the kelep would have the 
same habits as the true ants which have been associated with it as 
members of the same family or subfamily, but the differences were 
greatly underestimated. If the Hymenoptera were classified by a 
taxonomic system consistent with that applied to the higher animals, 
the kelep would need to be recognized as the type of a new and 
distinct family. It is, moreover, the first member of its family of 
which the habits have become known. Under such circumstances 
it was quite impossible, obviously, to determine in advance whether its 
habits and instincts would permit its colonization in the United 
States and its use in agriculture. 
The fundamental difference between the ants and the kelep, and 
that in which the latter resembles the honey bee, lies in the methods 
of swarming. Among the bees and the keleps swarming results 
(7) 
