RELATION OF HIBERNATED WEEVILS TO FOOD SUPPLY. 93 



From a knowledge of the habits of the adults it appears that the 

 preponderance of males in the spring is a favorable provision of nature, 

 making it more certain for the sexes to mate and to insure reproduc- 

 tion. In spite of a number of attempts to obtain a definite answer 

 to the question whether it is absolutely necessary for copulation to 

 occur in the spring before females can reproduce, this point has not 

 been positively settled. There are indications, however, that in most, 

 if not all, cases this is essential. The fact that mating occasionally 

 occurs immediately after emergence but before either sex has fed in 

 the spring has previously been noted. Unfertilized females at any 

 season of the year deposit nearly all of their eggs upon the outside of 

 squares or bolls, where they quickly dry up. No sign of partheno- 

 genesis has been found. The meeting of males and females is to a 

 large degree accidental, and during a season when weevils are com- 

 paratively scarce it is likely that in ver}^ many cases the sexes fail to 

 come together or the meeting may be delayed for a considerable 

 period. 



Experiments have shown that the male weevils do not actively seek 

 the females. They seem to recognize their presence through a dis- 

 tance of hardly more than an inch. The meeting of the sexes depends 

 therefore largely upon their coming into close proximity upon a cot- 

 ton plant. Since the males are less active in their movement than are 

 the females, the value of the existence of a majority of males be- 

 comes apparent. The larger number of males and the more active 

 habits of the females serve to increase the chances for the meeting 

 of the sexes in the spring without materially decreasing the power 

 of multiplication of the species. 



RELATION OF HIBERNATED WEEVILS TO FOOD SUPPLY. 



The relation of hibernated weevils to food supply is an important 

 subject, since the reproduction and multiplication of the species de- 

 pen<l primarily upon this point. As has been shown in numerous 

 places the emergence period of the weevil practically coincides with 

 the average period in the planting of cotton. The long duration of 

 emergence makes it practically impossible to secure the planting of 

 the entire crop either earlier or later than the emergence period of the 

 weevil. It has been found both from the study of the weevil and from 

 large-scale experiments in the culture of cotton that during nearly 

 every season there is a decided advantage in planting the crop as 

 early as soil and climatic conditions may permit. Too much empha- 

 sis can not be placed upon the fact that, at whatever time the cotton 

 in a locality may be planted, there will be a decided advantage in hav- 

 ing it all planted at as near a uniform date as is possible. It is obvious 

 that this will entirely prevent the development of weevils until prac- 

 tically all of the crop begins fruiting. In this way the fruiting of the 



