10 PARASITES OF THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL. 
HISTORY. 
Prior to the year 1906 very little information concerning the para- 
sites of the boll weevil had been accumulated. In 1895 Townsend 
Fic. 1.—Bracon mellitor, parasite of boll weevil. 
enlarged (from Hunter and Hinds). 
mentioned a small hymen- 
opterous parasite; also re- 
corded the suspicious oc- 
currence of several species 
of Scymnus in the squares, 
and mentioned that a fun- 
goid parasite, a species of 
Cordyceps, ‘‘was found 
growing out of a dead pupa 
in its cellin a boll, Novem- 
ber 26, in a field in San 
Juan Allende, Mexico.” 
(Townsend, 1895.)¢ In 
1896 Doctor Howard 
stated that the parasites 
were only abundant late 
in the fall and that from 
“15 to 20 per cent of the 
weevil larvee in fallen squares in November at Beeville and Kenedy 
were destroyed by parasites.”’ 
(Howard, 1897.) 
In 1901 Professor Herrera 
published a preliminary note 
concerning Pediculoides ven- 
tricosus Newp. (fig. 2) (Ran- 
gel, 1901b, p. 206), and in the 
same year a more extensive 
note on the work of this mite 
was published by Rangel. In 
testing the mite’s ability to 
propagate, 250 squares were 
divided into lots of 50 each 
and an infested larva placed 
with each lot for four days. 
One hundred check squares 
were used. At the time of 
examination the check squares 
were free from the mites, while 
the others contained 193 wee- 
vil stages, of which 61 were 
Fig. 2.—Pediculoides ventricosus, mite enemy of boll 
weevil. Much enlarged (adapted from Brucker). 
attacked by Pediculoides; in other words, 31.6 per cent were parasit- 
a Bibliography, pp. 50-51, 
