2 
the north and east has been very slow; that this spread is practically 
checked by the first heavy frost, and that it is doubtful whether it 
will spread to any great extent beyond the region of growth of 
volunteer cotton. 
In the early part of the season an agent of this office, Mr. C. H. T. 
Townsend, was commissioned to investigate wild and cultivated cot- 
ton in south Mexico, which was assumed to be the original home of 
the insect, although the greatest reports of damage in Mexico have 
come from more northern counties. Mr. Townsend was stationed 
during the spring and early summer months in the State of Tabasco, 
and had no difficulty in finding the weevil breeding very extensively 
as early as February in the squares of wild cotton and in following 
it on until July in the bolls. He reared many specimens of the 
weevil, but was unsuccessful in finding any parasites. He had been 
sent down there to see whether native parasites could be found which 
might be introduced to advantage into Texas cotton fields. He sent, 
during this time, from Tabasco to this office in Washington, numerous 
specimens of bolls containing this insect in different stages; and the 
writer has also been unsuccessful in rearing any parasites, although 
dried fragments in some of the bolls indicate that such a parasite 
does exist; probably, however, in insignificant numbers. The very 
fact of the occurrence of the weevil in such quantity in Tabasco is 
in itself an indication that no effective parasite is to be found there. 
In October and early November Mr. Townsend was sent through 
the infested region in Texas for the purpose of examining the con- 
ditions and learning whether the insect had spread. Such an inves- 
tigation was not necessary in the early season of the year for the 
reason that previous experience has shown us that the spread of the 
insect takes place in the autumn if at all. The early generations in 
the more northern portions of the range of the species are not so 
numerous as the later ones and the migratory instinct does not become 
developed as long as there is plenty of food. Wherever in a weevil- 
infested field the reasonably complete loss of the top crop through 
drought or from some other cause brings about a lack of food for the 
weevils in October or later, they then migrate in search of food and 
proper places to lay their eggs. 
The statements which follow have been derived largely from Mr. 
Townsend’s reports. 
CONDITIONS AND SPREAD DURING 1897. 
In all the infested region the crop this year seems to have been very 
short, ranging from 1 bale to 6 acres to 1 bale to 10 or even 15 acres 
on uplands. This condition is largely attributed to drought. In the 
bottom lands at Victoria the yield was from one-quarter to one-half 
bale per acre, and had it not been for the weevil a good top crop 
would have been realized. On the uplands almost no top crop was 
made, although there was a slight yield here and there in occasional 
fields, as at San Antonio, Gonzales, and Goliad. At Kenedy Mr. 
Townsend found that the yield averaged 1 bale to 10 acres; at Cuero, 
1 bale to 8 acres; at Victoria, 1 bale. to from 2 to 25 acres, varying 
from bottom lands to uplands; at Goliad, 1 bale to 6 acres; at Bee- 
ville, 1 bale to 8 acres. This will show about the yield of the central 
portion of the area heretofore known to be infested by the weevil. 
