April, '11] townsend: cotton square-weevil 245 



humid boreal type which has been gradually spreading southward 

 during recent geologic time, probably since the last advance of glacial 

 cold. It is not yet adapted generally to the conditions of t^e warm 

 arid regions, but has extended southward especially within the con- 

 fines of the humid plateau area. The boll-weevil has been found as 

 far south as the high interior of Guatemala; w^hile its smaller relative, 

 the square-weevil, occurs in the warmer mountain region of South 

 America. These facts account for the rapid spread in recent years 

 of the ])oll-weevil northward and eastward into the cotton belt of the 

 Southern States, and its ready adaptation to conditions of winter 

 cold. Its greater multiplication in the humid areas of eastern Texas 

 and Louisiana is in accord with these facts. 



Quite possibly both weevils have no other present food and main 

 plant than cotton, having become adapted to it perhaps within the life- 

 times of the species. The immediate stock from w^hich they sprang 

 doubtless possessed some other malvaceous host-plant. One might 

 imagine that the boll-weevil, from its larger size, has been longer 

 adapted to cotton than the square-weevil. In spite of much search, 

 including a three weeks' overland trip into the Andes of southern 

 Ecuador, from which I have just returned, I have as yet found the 

 square-weevil on no other plant than cotton. Still more strange to 

 say, on the above trip I was unable to find a single weevil in squares 

 of cotton plants in the higher country after leaving the Chira valley, 

 although conditions for them seemed most favorable. My route was 

 northeast, toward the center of the Cordillera; and I am constrained 

 to believe that directly north of here, in southwestern Ecuador, the 

 weevil may be found, but probably only in wild cotton. 



In view of all the facts in the case of both weevils, it is evident that 

 great interest attaches to the question of the native home of the 

 cotton plant. I have long been inclined to believe that it is not 

 native to America, but came originally from the Orient, the seed 

 having been brought here thousands of years ago by those early 

 adventurers who gave rise to the Maya and pre-Inca civilizations of 

 Central American and Peru. With the hope of throwing some light 

 on this very obscure point, I have communicated with several prom- 

 inent archaeologists and botanists who have made special study of the 

 subjects and regions in question. Dr. Max Uhle, director of the 

 Museo de Historia Nacional, in Lima, and the leading authority on 

 Peruvian antiquities, writes me as follows: 



The culture of the cotton plant in South America must have been known at a very 

 «arly period. It must be so since the cultivation of Algodon silveslre is found every- 

 where east of the Cordillera. The grave finds of cotton textiles, cotton seeds and 

 eeed-pods date from the remotest times. Also with the primitive fishermen of 



