The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-28
KELEP COTTON'S FRIEND
THE ECTATOMMA TURERCULATUM
 AND ALL ABOUT TT.
Bionomisf Cook the Author of Pam- phlet on the Guatemaian Ant ana
 its War on Boil Weevii.

Washington, Oct. 27.--(Special.)- King Cctton's friend, Kelcp:
 The Social Organization and Breed ing HAtits of the Cotton-Protecting Kelep of Guatemala" is the stateiy titie of a fifty-page pamphlet published py the Burta au Of Entomology or the De- partmcnt of Agriculture
 l The kelep, technically dlstinguisned as actste noma tuberclatum, Is nothing more than the Guatemalan ant import ed to Texas for experiment es a' Toe VI inc Mexican boil weevn. The report on the kelep is the work of Entomoioglst n. IF. Cook, the "tionomist in charge or investigations in agricultural economy of tropical and sub-tropical plants.
 Mir. Cooks treatise Is unusually in fer astinR. The kelep, while commonly called an ant, he says, ought 10 retain its Indiar name of kslep. the natives or Guatemala looking upon 1t as not kind of ant. but an independent amman not associated with ants. It Is very necuIiar insect in that although mis- taken for one of that species Ut does not belcnE to the hymeneptora which recognizes three types--ants, bees ana wasps, The kelep, says Mir. Cook, IS 'conpletely socialised. like the honey be,. while the ant is not; ksleps ana honc y-bees live only in communities while arts at one stage of their Hfe- btatrrv leave the nest and meet the vicisitu6es of independent existence as solitary individuals, like ihe nonsocial
 The summary of the instructive and ente rprieing report of the entomologist asserts that three facts have been es- abolished by the investigation and ex- perimer ts.
 pIant against the boil weevil, which 1t regularly kills and eats. In the pres enca of sufficient numbers Of keleps inc protection is entirely adequate, as shown by the comparative field tests in Guatemala. The keleps have mace it possible for the Indians to maintain a field culture of cotton in the pres ence If the weevil, and have thus en- ablsd the Indian variety of cotton to develop weevil- resisting characters which give partial protection. even in places where the keleps are few or wanting.
 2. The kelep does not attack plants, or Lave any other habits which would makes It's introduction into the Cnited States ir rjuIious or undesirable.
 g. It ie feasible to bring colonies Of the Insects to Texas and establish them in the cotton fields.
 The continued study of the insect has furnish ed. of course, many additional data besrirg upon the foregoing state- mentS, but all nave been or cOutlEiiia- tory nature. The present paper deals with the further question, whether the habits of the insect will enable 1t to breed and multiply in captivity or as a domestic ated inhabitant of the cotton fields of our Southern States. From the analogy of Inc habits of the ants it appt areo to specialists in the study of that group of insects that the kelep could rot be applied to agricultural uses. The facts detailed in the pres ent paper seem to warrant a different answer.
 4. The kelep Is not a tr1e ant, but
 has a distinct type of social organiza-
 tiop. much mora like that of the do- me5tic hcpey-bee. The utility of the kelep will depend, therefore, upon the answer to tho re-
 c1aining question. whether the kelep can survive and multiply under condi-
 tions of soil, climate and food supply to be found in the United States. In structure. habits and instincts. 1t is wonderfully adapted to the work of de-
 stroyinC the cotton boil weevil It is. in short. new and efficient Iinsectivorous animal, and in all proba-
 bility capable of being utilized for the
 protection of cotton and other crops in
 many rcpical and sub-tropical regions, | whatever may be the results Of the as.
 # is still impossible to predict the
 fate, in a new counery, of an insect IWnicn has recently become an object