90 



such specimens and report to the sender entirely free of 

 cost. 



The boll weevil is a beetle belonging to a large group, all 

 of which are characterized by having part of the head in 

 front of the eyes greatly extende'd to form a long slender 

 snout. There are many hundreds of species of these^ in- 

 sects, all of which are commonly called "weevils", but the 

 Mexican cotton boll weevil is the only one of these many 

 species which is at all serious as an enemy of cotton. While 

 other species may be found upon cotton plants, their occur- 

 rence there is mainly accidental. Earely indeed does any 

 other species breed upon cotton. The boll weevil breeds 

 upon cotton and upon nothing else. Like all other beetles 

 the boll weevil has four distinct stages in the development of 

 each individual. These are the egg (PI. I, fig. 3), which is 

 only about 1-30 of an inch long, white and delicate. This is 

 always deposited in a cavity which the female eats in the 

 square or boll and upon no other part of the plant. From 

 the egg there hatches in a few days a white, legless grub or 

 worm (PI. I, figs. 3-fi) which does not at all resemble the 

 beetle which it may finally become. The grub of the boll 

 weevil resembles very closely that of the "plum curculio*' 

 which is so familiar a pest in peaches, plums, cherries, etc., 

 working in the fruit and usually around the stone. The 

 boll weevil grub grows steadily from its initial length of 

 about 1-25 of an inch until it becomes fully grown and 

 measures from 1-5 to 2-5 of an inch in length. The body 

 is strongly curved in the form of a crescent, in this respect 

 being more curved than the "worm" in peaches, etc. (PI. 

 I. fig. 6.) 



In order to attain the beetle form the grub must pass 

 through an intermediate "transformation stage" which is 

 known as the "pupa." (PI. I, figs. 7 and 8.) In this stage 

 no food is taken, and there is a complete change of the ap- 

 pearance and of structure. The grub sheds its skin and in- 

 stead of the legless, wingless, snoutless worm, the pupa ap- 

 pears with all of these organs forming in sheaths closely ap- 

 ])lied to the body. In this stage the insect is very delicate, 



