April, '11] TOWNSEND: COTTON SQUARE-WEEVIL 247 



years. The old ruins of Yucatan, southern Mexico and Central 

 America were built by a race which long preceded the Aztecs. They 

 almost certainly cultivated cotton, and it is highly probable that 

 they brought seed with them when they came to America. They 

 quite certainly came from the Orient, probably from India, perhaps 

 from Egypt. The possibility is thus introduced of the boll-weevil 

 and square-weevil as well having both been imported into America 

 from the Old World by these ancients thousands of years ago. No 

 statements are intended to be made by the writer in this connection, 

 but the points of possibility are merely mentioned. The testimony of 

 students of Anthonomus is needed in this connection. 



Considering all the foregoing facts as well as possibilities, and 

 especially the influence upon the weevils of high aridity in the warmer 

 regions, what, then, is the outlook for future cotton production in the 

 Southern States and in Peru? We know not only that the boll-weevil 

 is by far the most serious enemy of cotton that exists under present 

 conditions in the Southern States, but also that it is bound to invade 

 the entire cotton belt in spite of all measures that can be taken to 

 prevent it. Its great seriousness rests on the fact that practically 

 all of the cotton belt of the Southern States lies within the humid, 

 warm temperate region. The square-weevil of Peru, though a potent 

 factor at times under present conditions, here holds no such serious 

 menace to the crop; and this is because the cotton area of Peru Hes 

 practically all within the arid coast strip. 



It should be recognized by cotton planters that the warm arid 

 regions of the globe, with their long, hot and dry summers, served with 

 a certain amount of irrigation, have been found to produce a far 

 higher quality of cotton fiber than has ever been raised in humid 

 regions. The native Peruvian, and other varieties of cotton cultivated 

 in the excessively dry and hot coastal valleys of Peru bring as high as 

 twenty-four cents gold on the Liverpool market, and average twenty 

 cents or more. While the upland cotton of the Southern States is 

 bringing fourteen cents, exactly the same variety produced in Piura 

 Department brings twenty-two cents. The difference is entirely in 

 quality of fiber, due wholly to the climatic conditions of the hot arid 

 region with its great heat and dryness. 



The natural cotton regions of the world are Egypt and the Soudan; 

 the southwestern United States; northwestern Mexico; the west 

 coast of Mexico, Central America, and South America in certain dis- 

 tricts, as notably the coast strip of Peru ; parts of South Africa, India, 

 etc. 



The natural cotton region of North America may be defined as 

 follows: Western Sinaloa and Sonora, southwestern Arizona, south- 



