ORIGIN AND HISTORY. 19 



observations on the activities of the boll weevil in this year were 

 considerably limited, owing to restrictions on travel imposed by the 

 yellow-fever quarantine. The insect was found, however, at Mazat- 

 lan, State of Sinaloa, on the Pacific coast of Mexico, on March 20, 1905. 



In 1900 the weevil spread extensively to the west in Texas, a con- 

 siderable distance northward into Oklahoma, into Arkansas, and 

 almost to the Mississippi River in Louisiana. During this season Mr. 

 M. T. Cook recorded the weevil from Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba, in 

 addition to places previously recorded. 



The year 1907 marked the crossing of the Mississippi River into 

 the State of Mississippi. There was a corresponding movement to 

 the north, but none to the west. A very severe setback, caused by 

 climatic conditions, occurred in the northern and western parts of 

 the infested territory in November, 1907. 



In 1908 the most noticeable advances were made into Mississippi 

 and Arkansas. By this time a considerable part of the Mississippi 

 Delta region of Louisiana had become infested. 



In the spring of 1909 preparations were made for the establish- 

 ment of a laboratory at Tallulah, La. The main object of this 

 laboratory has been the accumulation of data concerning the local 

 features of the weevil problem in the region where the greatest 

 damage is certain to occur. Cold weather in the winter of 1908-9 

 again checked the boll weevil so completely that it did no appre- 

 ciable damage in Oklahoma and the greater part of Texas during 

 1909. The checking of the insect was enhanced by the very unusual 

 heat of July and August. However, there were enough weevils in 

 the Red River Valley to give rise to a considerable movement into 

 Arkansas and to a remarkable eastward movement in southern 

 Mississippi which ended with a total advance of 120 miles eastward. 

 This carried the insect to within 6 miles of the Alabama border. At 

 the same time the decided climatic control of the season held the 

 weevils in check in northern Louisiana so that the total advance in 

 the Delta was little more than 20 miles northeastward. The year 

 1909 closed with an exceptionally cold December which greatly 

 reduced the numbers of the weevil in extreme northern Louisiana 

 and in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and northern Texas. 



The winter of 1909-10 was probably more disastrous for the weevil 

 than any it had previously experienced in this country. It was 

 shown by examinations made in June and July, 1910, that the weevil 

 had lost a very wide belt of territory in western Texas and that there 

 was less than 1 per cent infestation in one-third of the infested region 

 of Oklahoma and Texas. The reduction was also very pronounced 

 in northern Louisiana and in the Mississippi Delta. In August it was 

 found that there had been some recovery of lost territory, but there 

 were still several thousand square miles of formerly infested territory 

 in Oklahoma which the weevil had been unable to regain. There 

 were slight gains in western Texas in the vicinity of Abilene late in 

 the season and rather pronounced gains in the Delta region of Ar- 

 kansas and in the hills of northern Mississippi and eastward through 

 southern Mississippi and Alabama to the border of Florida. On 

 account of the general scarcity of weevils the total amount of damage 

 done during 1910 was less than had been experienced for several 

 preceding years. 



