94 



Amount of Damage Due to Boll- Weevil. 



There is frequently a tendency to greatly exaggerate 

 crop losses, but a very conservative estimate shows that 

 the damage done by boll-weevil in Texas amounts an- 

 nually to about 115,000,000. The loss in the weevil-in- 

 fested counties of Texas is certainly fully one-half of the 

 crop. If we assume that the total cotton crop of the 

 United States has a value of .$500,000,000 it will be seen 

 that when the boll- weevil is found throughout the whole 

 cotton belt the annual loss will be at least $250,000,000 

 annually. All these estimates are based upon the fail- 

 ure of the planters to adopt any measures to check the 

 spread of the pest or particularly to reduce the extent 

 of its damage. We shall see that there is much hope 

 that cotton may be grown at a profit in the infested re- 

 gions if the planters will adopt the modern methods of 

 planting and cultivation suggested and urged by the 

 Bureau of Entomology of the Department of Agricul- 

 ture. 



Life History of Insect. 



EGG, 



The female weevil deposits the egg in a hole 

 made by eating into either the square or boll. These 

 cavities are made usually between the middle and the 

 tip in the case of squares, but seem to occur at random 

 in the case of bolls. The length of the egg stage in the 

 vast majority of cases varies from 2 to 5 days. It has 

 been observed that but a single egg is usually deposited 

 in a boll if tlie female is able to find bolls not punctur- 

 ed. This habit of selecting a fresh boll for the ovi- 

 position of each egg accounts for the large number of 

 bolls injured by a single female. It is probable that a 

 single female may deposit as high as 200 eggs during 

 the season. 



