8 



had to be brought out by Indian carriers. None of the keleps were 

 found, however, in other parts of the country, and the prolmbilit}^ of 

 their existence elsewhere seems small in view of the fact that no other 

 field cultures of cotton exist in the neighboring regions, although the 

 natural conditions are generally favorable and man}^ attempts have been 

 made, some on a very large scale. In a few instances a satisfactory 

 crop w^as obtained the first 3'ear before the weevils had cime to multi- 

 ply, and expectations were aroused which only deepened the subse- 

 quent disappointment. One ver}^ small field of cotton in the Polochic 

 Valley, below Tucuru, was said to be 4: miles from any other plants, 

 but the weevils had found it before the crop ripened. There are 

 rumors of the existence, in Mexico, of tree cottons which are resistant 

 to the boll weevil, but in Guatemala these suffer quite as much as the 

 smaller kinds. Large trees often failed to furnish a single uninjured 

 boll as a specimen for our collection of varieties. The wish to find 

 the protecting insects nearer home has been echoed by many news- 

 paper accounts claiming the existence of the same or similarl}' useful 

 ants in various parts of Texas, but thus far none of these reports has 

 proved to be based on fact. The kelep is as 3^et the onlv ant known 

 to attack and destroy healthy adult boll weevils, just as the cotton 

 grown with the protection of the ants is, so far as known, the only 

 field culture permanently maintained in the weevil-infested regions of 

 Central America. 



It was feared at first that the keleps would not be able to excavate 

 nests in other than very loose and granular soils, and particularly that 

 they might fail to penetrate hard and tenacious subsoils like those 

 which underlie some of the cotton fields about Victoria. It seems, how- 

 ever, that these offer no special difficulties for the ants. Some of the 

 buried colonies are bringing up earth from a depth of about 18 inches, 

 and in experimental nests constructed of the tough Texas soil the ants 

 have given ocular demonstration of their power to dig out passage- 

 ways. The nest of a colony which has been in the ground at Victoria 

 for a week shows, on being dug out, a nearly vertical galler}^, with a 

 depth of 14 inches, and the usual lateral chambers. Whether the ants 

 will survive the floods to which many of the level cotton lands of 

 Texas are subject, is one of the questions still to be answered. In 

 Guatemala they are accustomed to very heavy rains which thoroughl}^ 

 saturate the soil, but the drainage is excellent. Possibly, however, 

 the impervious nature of some of the Texas subsoils may afford pro- 

 tection by holding air in the nests. 



Another equall}" practical question is frequently asked b}" planters 

 who call to sec the ants. Will not plowing and cultivation destro}" 

 the nests and drive the insects from the cotton fields? As they 

 burrow to a depth of from 1 to 3 feet, the shallow plowing cus- 

 tomary in Texas will cut off onl}^ the passage leading to the surface, 



