32 PKOLIFEKATION IN CUNTKOL OF BOLL WEEVIL. 



healino; following these two operations might also be Hkeiied to the 

 prohferation following artificial and weevil-made punctures. As 

 the probability would be greatly in favor of mortification following 

 from the untreated railway accident, so would decay be more likely 

 to follow a needle puncture in a boll than would the proper healing 

 of the wound by proliferation. The injection of chemical solutions 

 by the hypodermic syringe would, in all probability, hinder rather 

 than assist j)roliferation. 



Unfavorable as conditions for these tests seem, it appears that 

 proliferation was formed in a perceptible degree in 40 per cent of all 

 cases in which artificial punctures were made. The proportion in 

 cases where punctures were left open is slightly greater than where 

 punctures were sealed, being 43.7 per cent in the former case, and 37 

 per cent in the latter case. In ail these cases the proliferation 

 was entirely distinct from that caused by larvae when such were 

 present. In many instances the proliferation was abundant and 

 very plainly characteristic, in other cases there was only a slight 

 formation with more or less of decay. The fact that the experiments 

 were undertaken at very near the close of the growing season would 

 account for the formation of less proliferation than might have 

 resulted from similar experiments earlier in the season. 



RESULTS WITH BOLLS. 



More extensive experiments were made with bolls than with 

 squares in testing artificial stimulation to })roIiferation. Part of the 

 experiments were performed at Dallas and part at Hidalgo, Tex. 

 The same methods were used as with scpiares. The number of punc- 

 tures per ])oll averaged about six. In the experiments at Hidalgo 

 it was dillicult to find })olls which were wholly free from weevil attack. 

 The fidl data from the experiments are given in the following table: 



