40 



keeps their punctures scattered so long as plenty of clean squares can 

 be found. When clean squares become scarce, the normal inclination 

 can not be followed out, and the number of punctures made in one 

 square will be greatly increased. Most of the special feeding punc- 

 tures of females appear to be made either in the early morning or 

 near sundown, the middle and warmest portion of the day being- 

 given mainly to egg deposition. The total amount of feeding done is 

 really verj^ large, as is shown by a few figures. 



MALES AND FEMALES TOGETHER. 



During the season of 1903 a large number of weevilr. was kept in 

 tlie laboratory for special study, but as several weevils were confined 

 in each cage, the work of the sexes can not be positively separated. 

 A comparison of the results can best be made by means of a tabular 

 arrangement of tlie figures. 



Table VIII. — Number of 2iunctures per imevil per day. 



FEEDING OF HIBERNATED WEEVILS ON EARLY COTTON. 



During the period in which hibernated weevils were coming from 

 their winter quarters and seeking their first food, frequent examina- 

 tions were made in fields where the cotton was most advanced to learn 

 the first-food habits of such weevils. From statements made by pre- 

 vious investigators the writer is led to believe that the season of 1903 

 at Victoria was abnormal in respect to the small number of hiber- 

 nated weevils which were to be found upon the young cotton in the 

 field. The most careful search failed to discover more tlian a very 

 few weevils, whereas at the same season in some years hibernated 

 weevils have been picked in large numbers from the young cotton 

 growing in the infested territory. 



Whether they be few or many, however, makes no difference in 

 the feeding habits of the hibernated beetles. The stage of the cotton 

 determines largely the nature of the food habits at this time. Owing 



