THE COTTON-BOLL WEEVIL 



299 



1891 and 1892 the boll weevil crossed the Rio Grande 

 River in the neighborhood of Matamoros and settled in 



the cotton fields around Browns- 

 ville, Texas. As this was not a 

 great cotton-growing section, the 

 insect caused little alarm at first. 

 But gradually it has widened its 

 destructive 

 area until 

 now it has 

 invaded 

 practically 

 the whole 

 cotton- 

 gr ow ing 

 part of 

 Texas, and 

 in at least 

 two in- 

 stances has 

 crossed 

 into Louis- 



FlG. 257. EGGS AMONG THE 



ANTHERS OF A SQUARE 

 AT POINT INDICATED BY 

 THE ARROW 



After Sanderson, Bulletin of 

 Texas Experiment Station 



iana and is also threatening the In- 

 dian Territory, and indeed the whole 

 cotton belt of the South. Its rate of 

 spread toward the North and East 

 has been from fifty to seventy-five 

 miles each year. 



This insect which has struck ter- 

 ror into the hearts of thousands of 

 itself a trifling-looking little creature 



FIG. 258. CROSS- SECTION 

 SHOWING ANTHERS OF 

 A SQUARE WITH EGG OF 

 WEEVIL, AND SHOWING 

 THE HOLE WHERE THE. 

 EGG WAS DEPOSITED. 

 (Greatly enlarged) 



After Sanderson, Bulletin of 

 Texas Experiment Station 



cotton growers is in 

 It is a small, gray, 



