4 
PROSPECTS FOR NEXT SEASON. 
At the close of 1895 it was feared that there would be a consider- 
able spread during 1896. The severe midsummer drought in 1896, 
however, resulted in not only limiting this spread but in bringing 
about a shrinkage of the territory infested. Probably another factor 
which assisted in this shrinkage was the severe frost of the first week 
of December, 1896, which certainly resulted in the destruction of the 
majority of the insects at San Antonio, and probably also at Whar- 
ton, where the weevil was abundant in a certain field and where it 
has not since been found. At San Antonio, by the way, in a field 
which was very badly infested in November, 1895, no specimens of 
the insect were found during 1896 and but a single adult weevil was 
captured in October, 1897. “The slight spread to the north and east 
during 1897 renders it difficult to premise as to 1898. The almost 
uniform absence of a top crop over regions where the insect has 
previously been abundant, resulting in a great scarcity during Octo- 
ber, will probably make the insect scarce in numbers in the fields 
next spring. The writer would not be inclined to expect any great 
damage in such localities in the early part of 1898. 
Mr. Townsend writes: ‘‘I consider that the weevil has been set 
back greatly over nearly the whole of the infested district this year.” 
The spread which did occur, however, although not a great one, is 
serious from its direction. With heavy frosts in the early winter the 
prospects for the further spread of the insect in the same general 
direction next summer will be very sight. Without such frosts itis 
to be feared that toward the end of the summer of 1898 there may 
be a further spread toward the Colorado River. 
In general terms it may be said that the damage done by the weevil 
bears a direct proportion to the value of the top crop, and since in 
southern Texas the top crop is probably proportionately more valu- 
able than in other portions of the cotton belt, owing to the greater 
length of the season, it is here that the damage from the weevil must 
always be greatest. 
THE WEEVIL IN GINNED SEED AND SEED COTTON. 
It was the writer’s first supposition that the insect was brought 
from the comparatively isolated region about Matamoras, Mexico, 
and Brownsville, Texas, to Alice or San Diego or Corpus Christi in 
unginned cotton. Later observations seemed to negative this suppo- 
sition, since the insect was not found about the gins. Mr. Town- 
send, however, the present fall, in visiting a gin at Victoria, found 
numbers of lively adult weevils crawling about not only in the 
unginned seed cotton but even in the ginned cotton after it had 
passed through the machine. Many gins had been examined before 
this in both Texas and Mexico, but such facts had never before been 
observed. This indicates the possibility that the weevil may be 
taken from place to place in ginned seed as well as in ginned cotton. 
ANOTHER WEEVIL MISTAKEN FOR THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL. 
In the first two circulars published about this insect the writer 
referred to several insects which were mistaken for the true cotton 
boll weevil and figured one of them, viz., the form known as the 
