14 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



as the plants commenced to produce squares, and not a single 

 pound of cotton has been harvested from this field. During this 

 time the second field remained intact and produced a large 

 amount of cotton, until about five months later (December, 1892), 

 when the weevil infested this field,, too, and before the middle of 

 February the plants had ceased to produce bolls or even flowers, 

 the weevils infesting and destroying every square that made its 

 appearance. 



Toward the end of February the writer was commissioned by 

 Dr. L. O. Howard to proceed to Cayamas, Cuba, in order to find 

 out, if possible, the original food-plant of the Anthonomus, a 

 point in the natural history of the insect which had hitherto re 

 mained unknown. Up to the time of my visit to Cuba I had 

 shared in the opinion held by many entomologists connected with 

 the Boll-weevil investigation, that the original food-plant of the 

 weevil would prove to be some Malvaceous plant generically dif 

 ferent from Gossypium ; accordingly, some time was at first 

 spent by me at Cayamas in investigating every Malvaceous 

 plant,* although with no success. 



Previous to my arrival, and as soon as the weevils infested his 

 cultivated cotton, Mr. Ferrer had examined the wild cotton plants 

 growing in the vicinity of his cultivated fields, but without find 

 ing any trace of the insect. As a matter of course, the very first 

 thing I did upon my arrival on the spot was to closely re-examine 

 these plants, but they proved to be free from weevils. However, 

 soon afterwards the insect was found breeding on wild cotton in 

 many places around Cayamas. 



There are two distinct species of wild cotton in Cuba, both 

 of them arborescent and perennial plants, which, if undisturbed, 

 attain a great age. Even when growing among the dense, tall 

 grasses and weeds they reach a height of from eight to ten feet, 

 and, when growing under more favorable conditions, are often 

 fifteen or more feet in height. The species never intergrade with 

 each other, although they are difficult to distinguish without ex 

 amination of the ripe bolls. 



The first of these species is called by the Cubans the " Loose " 

 or "Wild" cotton, " algodcn sylvestre." It isprobably the Gossyp 

 ium brasiliense of the botanists. In general appearance, and 

 in the arrangement and nature of the seeds, it greatly resembles 

 our sea-island cotton, but is very much taller and has a shorter 



*The youngand more succulent fruits ofa species of Malvastrum showed 

 holes exactly corresponding in size with the punctures of the Antho 

 nomus, but thev proved to be made by the larva of a Microlepidopteron 

 (the particular species has not been bred), which feeds on the undeveloped 

 seeds. 



