Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1904-07-28
BATTLE OF INSECTS.
The kelep of Guatemala Will Save
the Cotton Crop.

wv VI 0ANAO 1aAAs CDSSSSu
mainly in the work of helping the
farmer to grow improved crops, but il
is calculated that the most valuable
will be the much-discussed Guate,
mala ant, with which it is hoped to
combat the cotton boil weevil. A boil
weevil laboratory" has been estab-
lished at Victoria, Tex, the focus or
the cotton beetles ravages, by DR.. l..
o. Howard, chief entomologist of the
department of agriculture. Queens OF
the newly discovered cotton ant are,
together with a number of workers.
being sent to this workshop. Perma-
nent colonies are to be established in
the experimental cotton field adjoin-
ing. The first battle on American SON
between the ant and beetle armies viii
be waged at Victoria, where, during
the conflict, interested entomologists
will be posted about the fields as war
observers. If the ant forces win this
test struggle. their victory will be an
event of good augury for our cotton
planters.
On the eve of this momentous strug.
gle il is important to consider the OPP
ponents and their equipment The
imported ant soldier is known as the
"kelep." This name has been applied
to him by the Indians of Guatemala,
who speak of him also as "the animal
of the cotton" But in spite Of his
long association with the cotton plant,
these Indians do not know that the
kelep has for many years saved their
cotton crops from the destructive
weevil. In fact, they do not know
that the weevil itself is an enemy or
cotton. In seasons when the helpful
ant has been scarce and the beetle has
been left to do its work unmolesteI,
these superstitious people have at
tributed their scarcity of cotton to the
eating salt at planting time. The
kelep eXcavates nest three feet or
more into the ground. He is hardy
insect. Experiments already made
show that he will survive confinement
for II days without food. Although he
is giant in size, man can handle him
with impunity. He has none of the
waspish ill-temper of many of the
singing and biting ants of his tropical
cline. He does not in the least iniure
cotton or any other plant, so far as
has been observed. He drinks the nee.
tar secreted by the cotton leaf, but
does not trouble the fiossy boil. But
this sweet food is simply an incident
to his diet. He is much more Elf.
cient destroyer of noxious insects than
is the spider or the toad. But upon
the harmlsse insects inhabiting the
cotton plant he looks with indifference
when the weevil is present
This beetle is about three-eighths OF
an inch long, over all, and is about
three times as long as wide. He is
usually of a gray or yellowish brown
and has the hard shell of other beetles.
His head fits into his neck with a bah
and socket Joint, and is capable of a
wide angle of rotation. He Is equipped
with long, hard snout, used as a lever
for prying into the growing cotton
wills az Vic Chu 10 d INV vi oHdl ~
teeth, and the rotation of his head can
give TO this long proboscis an auger-
like motion. He eats with combina
ton of boring, prying and chiseling mo-
tons. The big cotton ants paws open
sidewise, like a pair of nippers. They
about The middle. This is his first
move and while SO doing he prizes apart
the joint betw cen the hardshelled
beetles abdomen and thorax. Then
the bloodthirsty kelep bends his own
body into circle and inserts the
singer at his tail into the unprotected
point where he has opened the beetles
armor. The poison of the sting takes
immediate effect. The beetle ceases
ITO struggle, and while his legs are
feebly twitching he is carried away in
the jaws of his captor
Large colonies of keleps will be dis
tributed throughout the entire cotton
heh as soon as the experiments at the
Victoria laboratory shall have proved
that these Guatemalan ants will thrive
III LllG I1itlldlc VI ltAdSs MS lUty
probably viii. They promise TO be-
come valued assistants in American ag-
riculture. The Victoria laboratory is a
one-story frame structure situated in
the midst Of cotton fields. II is in
charge of Field Agent w. d. Hunter of
Or. Towards staff of entomologists.
n this building and the adjacent ex-
perimental cotton field are employed
many devices for experiment upon the
boil weevil. Distributed about the
field are wire cages used to eonfine the
destructive beetles to selected cotton
plants during the experiments. In
side the laboratory are apparatus for
breeding weevils indoors. These con
sist of earIhen dishes containing the
contaminated Gotten hollis and sur.
mounting bell jars, whose upper open.
ings are covered with cloth, admitting
air.
GERONIMO IN OLD AGE.