362 



Insect Life who desire them. The publi(;atioii of the divisional series 

 of circulars of information upon especially injurious insects, of Farm- 

 ers' IJuIletins upon s])ecial entomological topics, principally methods of 

 treatment, and of occasional special reports, will be continued. 



Mistakes about the Cotton-Boll Weevil in Texas. — The tendency to give 

 the same po])ular name to difleient animals in different parts of the 

 country has frequently been pr.oductive not only of great confusion but 

 of very considerable harm. A marked instance of this fact is seen in 

 the case of the cotton -boll weevil recently imported from Mexico into 

 Texas. Cotton planters in the South have for many years been accus- 

 tomed to designate any piercing" of the cotton boll by the term "sharp- 

 shooter work." Several true bugs have been concerned in this damage, 

 and as we have shown in Insect Life (vol. v, p. 150) several of the 

 leaf-hoj)pers, and particularly I'roconia nndata and Homaloclisca coagu- 

 lata, also produce this damage to bolls. On the first appearance of 

 the Mexican boll weevil in the vicinity of Brownsville the planters 

 applied to it the term "sharpshooter," and this has operated to prevent 

 alarm among the cotton growers in other parts of the State, since they 

 say that the "sharpshooters," like the poor, are always with us. The 

 indifference with which, until recently, prominent cotton planters have 

 regarded the advent of this new weevil is due entirely to the fact that 

 they have supposed that the reports of damage referred to the work 

 of the older and well-known insects. We have given full details con- 

 cerning this point in Circular Ko. G, Second Series, of the Division of 

 Entomology, recently issued from the press and widely distributed 

 throughout the State of Texas. 



In our special note on page 281 of the last number of Insect Life 

 we mentioned the fact that th6 Assistant Secretary of Agriculture had 

 notified the governor of Texas of the serious nature of the Mexican 

 weevil, and had urged the importance of immediate legislation provid- 

 ing for quarantine and enforcement of remedial work. 



In transmitting his recommendations, the Assistant Secretary gave 

 a brief review of what is known of the habits of the Mexican weevil, 

 which has been contradicted in Texas by cotton planters, largely, we 

 think, on account of the misunderstanding of the ditference between 

 the new weevil and the old sharpshooter. In the Galveston l^ews for 

 March 12, for instance, " a prominent Nueces County farmer" is reported 

 to have said that the information sent out from this Department is 

 entirely incorrect; that the weevil is never known to enter the boll 

 except when the boll is very young; and that as soon as the weevil 

 enters it the boll drops off; further, that the pest makes it a point to 

 attack the square or bloom as soon as formed, thereby preventing the 

 formation of the boll. The facts are, that the weevil attacks the boll 

 at all times as long as it js green. Mr. Townsend has repeatedly found 



