101 



* 

 Table XXVI — Effects of floating and submergence on all stages. 



In the case of squares floating norraallj^ it is evident that they 

 might remain in water for several days without injury to the weevil 

 within. Very slight wetting of the cell takes place even under the 

 extreme conditions of submergence. The effect of a brief flood would 

 not, therefore, be at all injurious. As adults float as readily as do 

 squares, they may also be carried long distances, and, furthermore, they 

 are able to crawl out of the water onto any bushes, weeds, or rubbish 

 which they may touch. Even when floating for several days continu- 

 ously they are able to live and may be carried directly to new flelds. 

 The floating of adults and infested squares explains the appearance 

 of weevils in great numbers along high-water line immediately after 

 a flood, and indicates that probably the most rapid advance the pest 

 will make in the United States will be into the fertile cotton lands of 

 the Red River Vallej' in Louisiana. 



PROBABILITIES AS TO THE INFLUENCE OF CLIMATE ON THE VV'^EEVIL 

 IN COTTON REGIONS NOT NOW INFESTED. 



The influence which the lower temperature prevailing over the 

 northern edge of the cotton belt may have upon the development, 

 destructiveness, and spread of the weevil is as yet largely problemat- 

 ical. No considerable amount of accurate data upon the development 

 of the weevil being at present available except that collected at Vic- 

 toria, Tex., during the seasons of 1902 and 1903, it is impossible to 

 predict with certainty how far or how rapidly the weevil may spread 

 or the rapidity of development which may take ijlace under the differ- 

 ent climatic conditions j)revailing in regions not at present infested, 

 or whether it may be expected that its destructiveness to cotton will 

 be materially reduced in other sections. These questions are, how- 

 ever, of considerable interest because of the probability that the 



