8 Farmers’ Bulletin 1262. 
rence of weevils far outside the infested area have been due to this 
similarity. The only sure way to determine whether an insect is the 
boll weevil is to send it to an entomologist for examination. In the 
field the most conspicuous indication of the presence of the boil 
weevil is the flaring (fig. 4) and falling of numbers of squares. 
Unfavorable climatic conditions and careless cultivation, however, 
frequently cause great shedding. 
which is often mistaken for 
weevil damage. If excessive 
shedding be noted and the 
squares upon being cut open 
show a white, curved grub (fig. 
5) that has fed upon the con- 
tents, there is little doubt that 
the boll weevil is the insect caus- 
ing the damage. 
The boll weevil passes the 
: winter as an adult or beetle. 
Fic. 2.—Cotton boll weevil: a, Beetle, In the spring and throughout 
from above; }; same, from side. About Wthe fruiaing seasomar (cop aimmne 
five times natural size. OF 
eggs are deposited by the female 
weevils in cavities formed by eating into the fruit of the plant (see 
fig. 4). An egg hatches under normal conditions in about three 
days, and the grub immediately begins to feed. In from 7 to 12 
days the larva or grub (fig. 3, at left) passes into its pupa stage 
(fig. 38, at right), corresponding to the cocoon of butterflies and 
moths. This stage lasts from three to five days. Then the adult 
issues, and in about five days begins the production of another 
generation. Climatic conditions 
cause considerable variation in the 
duration of the stages, but on an 
average it requires from two to three 
weeks for the weevil to develop from 
the egg to the adult. Males and 
females are produced in about equal 
numbers. The males feed upon the Fic. 3.—Cotton boll weevil: Larva 
squares and bolls without movie, S07 S00) 6 eae 
until the food begins to deteriorate. 
The females refrain, throughout most of the season, from depositing 
in squares visited by other females, but late in the fall, when all of 
the fruit has become infested, several eggs may be placed in a single 
square or boll. As many as 15 larve have been found in a boll. 
The squares are greatly preferred as food and as places for deposit- 
ing eggs. As long as a large supply of squares is present the bolls 
EE 
