EFFICIENCY OF THE KELEP PROTECTION. 35 



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examined from under the plants of the plot without keleps yielded 

 only 6 larvae, or 24 per cent. They even attacked the young leaf 

 buds, as observed last year at Rabinal. 



A large proportion of the injuries were caused by feeding punc- 

 tures, but this only emphasizes the fact that the number of weevils 

 which migrated into this plot was sufficient for a complete destruc- 

 tion of the crop, and since the other experiment protected by the 

 keleps was much nearer to the fields of the Indians there is every 

 probability that the weevils would have been, if possible, even more 

 numerous if the keleps had not been at hand to catch them. 



The unprotected plot was located at about one-quarter of a mile 

 outside of the belt of Indian cotton culture, on land not inhabited by 

 keleps. The weevils lost no time in finding the new field. Infesta- 

 tion was complete, and quite as destructive as in Texas, the weevils 

 being so numerous as to overcome whatever resistance the cotton 

 might have been able to oppose to smaller numbers of the pests. 

 The Sea Island, Egyptian, and United States Upland varieties were 

 not permitted to produce flowers or even full-sized buds, and even 

 the native Guatemalan varieties shed their squares before the per- 

 sistent onslaughts of the weevils. 



Cotton is regularly cultivated by the Indians in this immediate 

 neighborhood, and Indian plantings more or less infested with 

 weevils were to be found within short distances of the protected field. 

 Nevertheless, the keleps proved to be sufficiently abundant on this 

 piece of ground to completely exclude the weevils. There were 

 enough, indeed, to protect with apparent impartiality all the kinds 

 of cotton included in the experiment, but if the numbers had been 

 less and the plants had been closer together, as in the Indian fields, 

 Ave may be sure that those producing the most nectar would have 

 received the most protection from the keleps. 



The weevils were seldom to be found in the plot stocked with 

 keleps as long as the Indian cotton remained in vigorous growing 

 condition, but about the time the Indian cotton ripened, the weevils 

 seemed to make a more determined raid on our field, and along one 

 side nearly every plant suffered somewhat, though the weevils 

 could rarely be found except in the open flowers, which seem 

 to be recognized as their only safe roosting places. In a week or 

 ten days there was a distinct falling off, so that very little damage 

 was being done, and there was another short interval of practically 

 complete protection. But after this a renewed onslaught began and 

 the numbers of weevils gradually increased, the Upland and Sea 

 Island plants continuing to produce thousands of new squares in 

 which the weevils were able to breed, quite as in the United States. 



That the keleps are definitely attracted to the cotton plants, as 

 stated in previous reports, is fully demonstrated by the fact that 



