June 3, 1904.] 



SCIENCE. 



863 



they seem to be, morpliologically speaking, the 

 stipules. Nectar is also to be found between 

 the calyx and corolla, but no bees, flies, or 

 other winged insects were observed visiting the 

 flowers except beetles, sometimes the boll 

 weevil, but much more often a small black 

 staphylinid of very active habits. To these 

 and to the very small black ants which are also 

 occasionally present in numbers on the cotton, 

 the large brown ant pays no attention, but the 

 weevil is attacked on sight and becomes an 

 easy prey. 



The ant's mandibles are large enough to 

 grasp the weevil around the_ middle and pry 

 apart the joint between the thorax and 

 abdomen. The long, flexible body is bent at 

 the same time in a circle to insert the sting at 

 the unprotected point where the beetle's strong 

 armor is open. The poison takes effect in- 

 stantly ; the beetle ceases to struggle, and with 

 its legs twitching feebly is carried away in the 

 jaws of its captor. As with many other in- 

 sects when stung by wasps the paralysis is 

 permanent; even when taken away from the 

 ants the beetles do not recover. The adroit 

 and business like manner in which the beetle 

 is disposed of, in very much less time than 

 even the briefest account of the operation 

 could be read, seems to prove beyond question 

 that the ant is by structure and by instinct 

 especially equipped for the work of destruc- 

 tion, and is, in short, the true explanation of 

 the fact that cotton is successfully cultivated 

 by the Indians of Alta Vera Paz, in spite of 

 the presence of the boll weevil. Instead of 

 congregating in large numbers on the cotton 

 in the immediate vicinity of their nests the 

 ants have, as it were, the good sense to spread 

 themselves through the field, from 2 to 4 or 5 

 usually being found doing inspection duty on 

 each plant. In some places there seemed to 

 be not enough ants to go around, and here the 

 beetles were more numerous. Earely, too, 

 certain flowers or branches seemed to have 

 been overlooked, beetles being found on the 

 same plants with the ants. In such instances, 

 indeed, the young flower or boll was generally 

 riddled with punctures as though many beetles 

 had availed themselves of the rare opportunity 

 of feeding undisturbed. 



Cotton-growing among the Indians is some- 

 thing of a special art, the community being 

 supplied by a few men aware, as it were, of 

 the secrets of the business. They know noth- 

 ing about the weevil and its ravages, and 

 ascribe such damage as occurs to other harm- 

 less insects, or even to superstitious causes, 

 such as the failure of the owner to abstain 

 from salt at the time of planting. The ant, 

 however, is definitely associated in their minds 

 with cotton, and they do not expect to secure 

 a good crop unless these insects favor the 

 plants with their presence. Some of the In- 

 dians give the ant a special name, helep, not 

 applied to any other species, but it is also 

 referred to as ' the animal of the cotton.' 



In the neighborhood of Secanquim, on the 

 coffee estate of Messrs. Champney and Com- 

 pany, where the most of our observations have 

 been made, the ants are by no means widely 

 distributed, and the cultivation of cotton is 

 confined to very narrow limits, where it is 

 planted year after year in closely adjacent 

 places, or even on the same ground. In one 

 instance the same Indian has planted cotton 

 on the same hillside for upwards of forty 

 years, with no failure to secure a crop except 

 in one year, as he explained, when he was 

 sick and did not sow! Such facts preclude, 

 of course, any explanation based on the theory 

 of temporary immunity secured from burning 

 over the land or by planting in a new place 

 in which the beetles have not had time to con- 

 gregate. The cotton is sowed in October or 

 November, a very rainy part of the year, when 

 land can not be cleared by burning, and the 

 weeds are pulled out and thrown with the 

 dead corn stalks and brush into piles, which 

 would protect the beetles rather than destroy - 

 them. The perennial tree cotton also fur- 

 nishes permanent breeding-places, so that the 

 conditions are most favorable to the propaga- 

 tion of the beetles in large numbers. The 

 ants, however, are evidently able to hold them 

 in check, and thus permit the regular culti- 

 vation of an annual variety of cotton by the 

 Indians. 



Ethnological data show that the weaving 

 of cotton cloth was practised in tropical Amer- 

 ica for many centuries before the arrival of 



