94 HUMAN FACTORS IN COTTON CULTURE 



the insects to it before they have had time to reproduce 

 in sufficient numbers to ruin the crop. 



The Department experts were unconvinced that the 

 Mexican weevil did not have some native parasite, and 

 in 1902-3 occurred a rather romantic adventure with 

 the "Guatemala ant." 0. F. Cook, sent to study the 

 cotton culture of the Guatemala Indians, reported Kekchi 

 cotton to have special characteristics that made it im- 

 mune to attack by weevil. Even more interesting was his 

 find of the kelep, a large, reddish brown, ant-like insect 

 that ate weevils. Its way of dining was in this manner: 

 With its mandibles held firmly around the belt of the 

 weevil, the Jcelep bent its flexible body around to insert 

 neatly a sting on the vulnerable line between head and 

 thorax. When the poison took effect the somnolent wee- 

 vil was carried to the underground nest and fed to the 

 larvae. After extracting the meats, the ant scrupulously 

 and carefully packed the empty hulls away in a special 

 underground storeroom. This ant did not eat cotton but 

 was attracted to it by the nectar. It was in his con- 

 sequent strolls over the plant that he met and took pos- 

 session of the weevil. 32 



The entomologist reported that he had been found 

 adapted for domestication and developed no bad habits 

 in captivity. A number were captured and colonized in 

 Texas where it was reported they bred freely. Newspaper 

 headlines announced : "Experts Introduce Guatemala Ant 

 to Exterminate Boll Weevil." 33 The news story was too 

 good to be true. In its 1906 yearbook a Department 

 specialist wrote: "The attempt to introduce the so-called 



32 O. F. Cook, "Cotton Culture in Guatemala," Dept. of Agri- 

 culture Yearbook, 1904. 

 Loc. cit. 



