864 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 492. 



Europeans, and the probability is great that 

 the plant itself is a native of this hemisphere. 

 In being carried to other countries it was 

 taken beyond the reach of both the friends 

 and J;he enemies which had developed with it. 

 The boll weevil has migrated northward with 

 the extension 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 induced 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 dis- 

 tribution in this part of Guatemala has un- 

 doubtedly served the better to demonstrate 

 their value as protectors of the cotton plant; 

 it suggests also, with other facts, the proba- 

 bility that they are not native here, but have 

 spread eastward in smaller or larger colonies 

 as the forests were cleared away by the In- 

 dians. The present occupation of the eastern 

 districts of Alta Vera Paz by the Indians does 

 not date back more than a few generations, 

 though abundant evidence of much more an- 

 cient inhabitants is found in the apparently 

 primeval forests. The ants, like the Indians, 

 probably came from the dry, open interior 

 plateau region, where the center of the ab- 

 original cotton industry of Guatemala is still 

 located, and where another visit to the ants 

 is to be paid in the next few days. To estab- 

 lish such an origin for this useful insect would 

 greatly increase the probability of its success- 

 ful introduction into the United States. The 

 acclimatization of a thoroughly tropical ani- 

 mal requiring continuous heat and humidity 

 could scarcely be hoped for. If, however, the 

 cotton ant can survive a long dry season and 

 perhaps cold weather in the table lands 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 three 

 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 for twelve days without food, and 

 seem now to be thriving on a diet of 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 nectaries, 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, and even centipedes. On the other 

 hand, it does not do the least injury to the 

 cotton or to any other plant, as 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 tropics. Since where once .estab- 

 lished it exists in large numbers and seeks its 

 prey actively, it is a much more efiicient de- 

 stroyer of noxious insects than the spider or 

 the toad. It seems, in short, not unlikely to 

 become a valued assistant in the agriculture of 

 tropical and sub-tropical countries, if not in 

 temperate regions. The farmer has a new 

 and practical reason to ' consider the ant.' 



An accumulation has 'been made, of course, 

 of seeds, specimens, photographs and notes 

 bearing on the cotton, beetles, ants and many 

 other collateral matters not to be mentioned 

 here. Even this brief- preliminary report 

 should not close, however, without an acl-mowl- 

 edgment of the many favors of Messrs. Owen 

 and Champney, owners of the Sepacuite es- 

 tate, and of Mrs. Owen. Without the kind 

 invitations, hospitality and extensive local 

 knowledge and cooperation of these generous 

 friends, it would have been quite ' imprac- 

 ticable to visit the Indian cotton district of 

 the interior of Alta Vera Paz in 1902, or to 

 ascertain the existence of the cotton ant in 

 the present season. O. E. Cook. 



Sepactjite, Guatemala, 

 May 11, 1904. 



ZYGOSPORE PORMATldN A SEXUAL PROCESS. 



In a paper now in process of publication 

 the writer has given a detailed account of a 



