The Boll-Weevil Problem. it | 
With the advent of cool weather in the fall the adult boll weevils 
in cotton fields begin to seek protection against the winter. They fly 
from the fields in every direction, although their movements are 
governed partially by the prevailing winds. They may fly into_ 
hedges, woods, cornfields, haystacks, farm buildings, or other places. 
Specimens have been found in such situations, and also in consider- 
able numbers in Spanish moss growing some distance above the 
ground on trees. A number of weevils also obtain hibernating quar- 
ters without leaving the cotton fields. These may crawl into cracks 
in the ground, under grass, weeds and other trash, and into the burrs 
from which the cotton has been picked. In some cases several thou- 
sand weevils per acre have been found hibernating in such situations. 
Here, however, the mortality is greater than where the protection is 
better. In fact, hibernation in the fields is not of great importance 
except in the more southern localities. That the majority of weevils 
which hibernate successfully do not pass the winter in the cotton fields 
has been shown by many experimental observations and is demon- 
strated every year in the infested territory by the appearance of the 
first damage in the immediate vicinity of woods and in other places 
where conditions for protection are favorable. 
During the winter the weevils take no food and remain practically 
dormant. On especially warm days they may move about to a certain 
extent. During the very mild winter of 1906-7 hibernating weevils 
were found moving about more or less throughout the period from 
November to March. 
The number of weevils that live through the winter has been deter- 
mined very accurately for different conditions. It varies with the 
temperature and with the region. Heavily timbered regions, espe- 
cially where Spanish moss occurs, show the smallest winter mortality. 
In Louisiana, out of 25,000 weevils, 2.82 per cent survived the winter 
of 1905-6. These weevils were placed under various conditions that 
must have approached those which the species encounters naturally. 
The winter referred to was practically a normal one so far as tem- 
perature and precipitation were concerned. In extensive work in 
Texas during the winter of 1906-7, out of 75,000 weevils 11.5 per cent 
survived. As in the preceding case, these weevils were placed under 
diverse conditions in different cages. These conditions ranged from 
the most favorable to the least favorable; that is, from an abundance 
of protection to practically none. The survival obtained was undoubt- 
edly very close to that occurring under the diverse natural conditions 
of that winter. It must be emphasized that the winter of 1906-7 
was abnormally warm. The ‘average survival in experiments per- 
