11 
way." The data which seem to support this conclusion are briefly 
summarized in the following paragraphs. 
SIZE OF THE KELEP COLONIES. 
The colonies, while very variable in size, range between 100 and 
400 workers, and thus are of the same order of magnitude, instead of 
forming a series from solitary queens to communities of thousands 
or millions, as among the true ants and termites. Out of nearly 150 
nests which have been explored only 3 or 4 had less than 100 workers. 
This fact alone was sufficient to place the kelep in strong contrast 
with the leaf-cutting ants, which are such conspicuous members of 
the insect fauna of Central America. The colonies of the leaf cutters 
contain enormous numbers of individuals, hundreds of thousands, or 
millions, perhaps; and yet the young queens begin alone. The small 
burrows of several such were found while kelep nests were being 
opened, the annual mating flight of the leaf cutters having taken 
place only a short time before.? 
Most of the colonies brought from Guatemala in the first im- 
portation were, as it now appears, mere fragments of normal com- 
munities, containing from 20 to 50 workers. The jars obtainable in 
Guatemala for use as cages were very small, and it was feared that 
overcrowding would be detrimental. It was supposed, too, on the 
analogy of the ants, that the colonies would readily replenish their 
numbers if conditions should prove favorable in Texas. 
In the Texas experiments, however, it became apparent at once 
that in courage and general activity the behavior of the large colonies 
was very different from that of the small ones, a fact which the char- 
acter of the social organization permits us to appreciate more fully 
than before. When permitted to do so the larger colonies generally 
moved with promptness out of the cages and established themselves 
« After the above was written Mr. McLachlan reported from Victoria, Tex., 
that there had been an increase in the number of colonies in two kelep settle- 
ments in the cotton field near that place. One wire-netting cage which had 
been supplied with four imported colonies was found to contain six colonies ; 
another had seven colonies, though only five had been left in it. Before leaving 
Texas in October, I had noticed numerous young keleps in these cages, but had 
observed no addition to the original number of colonies. 
bIt seems to be true, as the Indians say, that the leaf cutters are unable to 
establish themselves in territory occupied by the keleps. Presumably the keleps 
kill the leaf-cutter workers as soon as they come out of the ground, and the 
queen, being thus unable to raise a family to forage for her, soon starves to 
death. If there is a nest of leaf cutters near enough to a cotton field to make 
a raid upon it, the Indians protect it by a fence of tough leaves of the plant 
called mosh (Calathzea). The same leaves are used by the black “ Caribs” of 
Livingston for lining the waterproof baskets which they weave from the climb- 
ing spiny palm (Desmoncus). 
