June, '12] TOWNSEND: COTTON SQUARE-WEEVIL 253 



Boheman agreeing quite perfectly with weathered female specimens. 

 He is about to publish full descriptions of both the adult and pupa 

 under this name. He states that it belongs to a group not represented 

 in North America. 



It has developed as practically certain that the square-weevil reached 

 the cotton districts of the Peruvian coast from the humid coast region 

 of Ecuador. This clinches the comparative certainty of its being 

 the same species that Boheman named vestitus from the Island of 

 Puna in the Bay of Guaj'aquil. Wild cotton from the vicinity of 

 Guayaquil has been examined and found to show evidence of the 

 weevil in the presence of the peculiar cells which it makes within the 

 buds. Cotton squares from the coast region of central Peru, in the 

 Chancay valley, have revealed the grub of the weevil. Thus the 

 species appears to be spread all along the coast of Ecuador and Peru 

 where cotton occurs. 



On the other hand it does not appear to occur in the mountains 

 nor on the other side of the Andes in the montana. During a trip 

 into the montana of the Province of Jaen, immediately east of Piura, 

 in September, 1911, I was unable to find either the weevil in any stage 

 or any sign of it in the cotton of that region, wild or cultivated. The 

 scattered cotton plants seen were extremely clean of all pests, revealing 

 no sign of either weevil or scale. Thus the square-weevil does not 

 seem to inhaVjit other than the lowlands of the Pacific coast strip, in 

 this part of South America at least. It is certainly a humid tropical 

 species, as evidenced by its almost complete cessation of activity 

 during the hot dry season. Nevertheless it maintains itself well 

 here, resuming activity promptly on the advent of the humid months, 

 though these mean nothing more than an atmospheric humidity during 

 nig'ht and morning with cloudy weather usually for the greater part 

 of the forenoon during which the humidity continues. The after- 

 noons are almost invariably sunny, and the sun quickly disperses 

 the humidity of the air. 



During the present year the weevil has been found to a limited 

 extent in the newly-set bolls, just after the dropping of the flower. 

 Out of 1971 such bolls collected in July and August, 1911, from various 

 points over the whole cott'on area of Piura Department, there issued 

 or were extracted 178 weevils and 18 parasites. Subsequent examina- 

 tion showed 220 of the bolls to have been infested, indicating issuance 

 of weevils from some of them prior to collection. These were all 

 newh'-set bolls that had either dropped or were yellowed and about to 

 drop, or were dried and still hanging, and formed some 15 separate 

 lots. In one case three adult weevils were taken from one of these 

 small newly-set bolls. A half dozen or so infested fresh bolls of this 



