102 



eslight damage to cottou. It sometimes feeds on the young 

 cotton plants, boring into the main stems or leaf stems and 

 causing the death of leaves and tips, but there is only one 

 record of its having bred in a cotton square. The adults 

 are shining black in color, somewhat shorter and more 

 stoutlv built than is the boll weevil, and the back of the bodv 

 shows numerous small, circular pits arranged in several 

 rows along the wnng-covers. 



The "transverse Baris", {Baris tarnsversa Say), PI. II, 

 fig. 5, is a small, black weevil much shorter, broader pro- 

 portionately and flatter than the boll weevil. Its snout is 

 very short and strongly curved. This species breeds in the 

 roots of cocklebur, and the adults occur accidentally upon 

 cotton as may another closely related and similar appearing 

 species that breeds in the roots of ragweed. 



There are several species of ''acorn weevils" belonging to 

 the genus Balaninus. One of these is shown in PI. II, fig. 

 9. All have very long, slender snouts, sometimes even 

 longer than the body. All breed in acorns, and are often 

 attracted to lights, as the boll weevil never is. 



Some of the ''click beetles" have a habit of hiding during 

 the day in cotton squares, and are therefore mistaken for 

 the boU weevil, although they do not resemble it in the 

 least. One of these (Mo7iocrcpidius vespertinus, Fab.), PI. 

 II, fig. 6, is most commonly mistaken. In its early stages 

 it lives on the roots of grasses in the cotton field, and the 

 adult hides around the plant, but it does not attack coiton 

 at all. These are all long, slender, flat-bodied beetles which, 

 if turned over on their backs, will spring into the air with 

 a "click" and thus regain their footing. 



The last species that we have space cu mention here is 

 a bug belonging to a group of insects known as "leaf hojn 

 pers". These insects have the habit of sucking sap from the 

 stems of plants and may occur on cotton where they have 

 sometimes been called "sharp-shooters". These are gro- 

 tesque insects which do not resemble the boll weevil at all. 

 One species, (Honioladisca triquetra Fab.), is shown in PI. 

 IT, fig. 10. 



