PENDENT BOLLS. 27 



Tlu' li:il)ility lo cm])! me l»y such an insect as llic kolep may also 

 aff'oi'd an explanation of the peculiar sedentary hahits of the male 

 weevils, which ofteji remain stationary in one involucre for lone- 

 j)ei'iods, or as lon<i- as their food supply lasts. It is necessary for the 

 females to go about in search of fresh squares for egg laying, but 

 similarly active habits on the part of the males would subject them 

 to unnecessary danger. 



PENDENT BOLLS. 



The early bearing of the Kekchi cotton is made possible, as already 

 noted, by the unusual development of the lower lateral branches, 

 which often have a drooping habit, leaving the buds and bolls in 

 pendent position, intead of upright. There are several advantages 

 in this arrangement, one being that the instinct of the weevils leads 

 them to the upper portion of the plant. In a very badly infested 

 field without kelep protection, the only bolls wdiich escaped the 

 weevils were a few lying close to the gi'ound on these lower pendent 

 branches of the Kekchi cotton. Only at the time of fiowerino- does 

 the peduncle curve upward and give the flower its normal upright 

 ]iosition. Thus these drooping lateral branches of the cotton, which 

 seem to hide the buds and bolls away from the weevil, may be looked 

 upon as a short step in the direction of such phenomena as the 

 cleistogamous flowers of violets Avhich remain buried in the ground, 

 or those of the peanut which, after flowering, burrow into the soil to 

 ripen their seeds. 



The flowers of the cotton plant open in a more or less directly up- 

 right position, and this is retained by the boll in most varieties. In 

 the so-called " stormproof " sorts, ho\vever, the bolls hang down, and 

 this is looked upon by many planters as a distinct advantage, since 

 when the boll is rij^ and open the rain does not beat into it and wet 

 the cottQn or wash it out, but is shed by the protecting outer shell and 

 involucre. 



On pendent bolls 'the external nectaries are brought upward, so 

 that there is no danger of an abundant secretion of nectar being lost 

 by dropi)ing off. The surface of the nectary is papillate and has a 

 somewhat waxy appearance. The secretion often collects as a dis- 

 tinct drop. The nectaries are also more readily visited by the keleps. 

 and the young bolls are likely to be better protected by them. If 

 these remained upright, the weevils would be more likely to alight 

 and enter the involucre at once. 



The drooping habit may have a mechanical explanation as the re- 

 sult of the weakness of the comparatively slender lateral branches. 

 It is also to be c(mnected, i)erhaps, with the habit of early flowering 

 and fruiting, since this would bring heavier bolls upon smaller and 

 softer branches wdiich would be twdsted over by their weight. In 



