48 WEEVIL-HESISTTNG ADAPTATIONS OK COTTON. 



ilu' ?«tvU' ;uul iTiitnil coliiinii of llu' llowfr. aiul ihciu-o down into the 

 ovarv or yoimi:' '>oll. After this Inis Iuhmi consunuMl tlu> lnrva> return 

 to tlio iippi'i' |>:ii1 of tlu' l)iul to linisli the riMuaindcr of llic polliMi. 



Nevcrtlu'lcs^, this su«:'iiVstioii of a protect ini;- (|iiality in the pollen 

 itself can not l)e acct'pte<l with mnch conli(lence hecanse the weevils 

 showeil in luinierons in-tances that they conUI live and thrive upon the 

 pollen (d' iht' youn<>' sipiares. (|uite as in the Tnited States. This oc- 

 curred in the (>\periniental jilot where then- were no f<ele])s. and th( 

 weevils were wry nnni'M'ons and persistent in their attacks. After 

 two oi' thi'ce punctni'es the stjuai'es flared and fell to the i>;round in 

 the usual manner, and in these the weevil larva' were able to reach 

 maturity. 



A nu)re probable reason for the usual failure of the lai\a' to eat the 

 pollen as freely as in the Tnited States is furnished by tlu' ojjinion of 

 Mr. ^^'. D. Hunter, that tlu' original habit of the wee\il was to attack 

 the l)oll>. like related species of .Vnlhononuis. which li\-e upon various 

 kinds of fruits." If this be true with ivfereuce to the boll weevil we 

 may think of the (iuatemalan memlHU's of the species as having 

 retained sonu'what more of the ancestral habits which with them are 

 dednitely useful, because the cotton variety with which they have to 

 deal has jx'rfectiHl. to i lariier t-xtent than tlu' Texas \arieties, the art 

 of proli feral ion. 



As a furthir indieatitm o[' the i^reater streuiith amonjj the Guate- 

 malan wiH'\"ils oH the instinct of attackinjj,' the ovary of the bud 

 may be mentioni'd the fact that a \ery lai'u'e proportion of the 

 punctures oci'ur low down — that is, (,)n or below the level of the apex 

 of the younii' boll. 'Idie larva couuuonly eats directly to the ciMiter of 

 the bud and hollows out the apex of the youna' l)oll. This habit 

 gives rather less opi)oi-t unity for successful proliferation than in 

 Texas, because the ca\ity hollowed out Ity the lar\a lies btdow the 

 K'\el of the staminal tube, the tissues of which ai-e the most active 

 in proliferation. The Kekchi cotton shows occasionally anothei- 

 form of })roliferation not recorded from Ti'xas, namely, that of the 

 base of the corolla. Sometimes this enlargement takes place in ;in 

 outward direction, forming a wart or protuberance on one side 

 of the bud, as shown in Plate W. In otlu>r instances the direc- 

 tion i> reversed and the ingi'owing edge> of the wound made by 

 the wcexil hll the inteiaial caxity and prexcnt \\\v chM-eloinuent 

 of the larva. The proliferation of the corolla, besides being less 



"A new species of .\iitlioiiennis witli habits closely idontienl with those of the 

 boll weevil, but parasitic on the i>epi'er plant (Caiisicmn ), lias been discovered 

 reeentlv in 'I'e.vas by .Mr. K. \. Scliwar/.. Tliis pains an .iibUvl interest from the 

 fact already noted that it is the reunlar custom of the Indians -of Alta Vera 

 I'az to plant i)ei)j)ers amoni: the cotton. 



