18 
NATURAL HISTORY AND HABITS. 
The insect passes the winter in the weevil state. It can be found on 
the cotton plant until late in December, and, in fact, as long as any 
portion of the plant is green. It is found most abundantly in the early 
winter hidden between the involucre and the boll, and later it frequently 
works its way down into the dry and open bolls. All the specimens 
found by Mr. Schwarz in such situations in the late spring of 1895 were 
dead; but Mr. Townsend found a few living in March. The dry boll 
is probably not a frequently successful hibernating place. 



e.. Actual occurrences, 1895. 
o.. Points examined where no wee- 
vils were found. 

Fic. 8.—Map showing distribution of the Mexican cotton-boll weevil in 1895. 
With the cutting of the plants, or with the rotting or drying of the 
bolls as a result of frost, the adult weevils leave the plant and seek 
Shelter under rubbish at the surface of the ground, or among weeds 
and trash at the margin of the fields. Here they remain until the warm 
days of spring, when they fly to the first buds on such volunteer plants 
as ay come up in the neighborhood. They feed on these and lay their 
eggs on the early squares, and one or perhaps two generations are 
developed in such situations, the number depending upon the character 
