208 



IKSECTS IXJURIOUS TO STAPLE CROPS. 



Thus one or two generations develop on the vohinteer 



cotton. By the time the planted cotton is high enough 



to form squares the weevils have become quite numerous, 



and, as a result, a large portion of the squares soon drop. 



The first indication of tlie preseuce 



of the pest is by the absence of the 



blooms. The squares also drop in 



much more than ordinary numbers 



and though this might be due to 



other causes, if they are cut open 



the presence of the weevil will soon 



become apparent. Infested bolls 



are characteristically discolored and 



-p ^^Q J . -p J, punctured. '' Late in the season the 



Boll, showing how weevils themselves will be found 

 beetles hide between ^ ^ ,i • i t - 1 i n 



boll and involucre, between the involucre ana the boll, 



(After Howard, U. S. ^^ j^^ ^i^gj^. absence, the feeding 

 Dept. Agr.) ' ° 



marks and the yellow, granular ex- 

 crement wdiich collects at the base of the boll are excellent 

 indications." 



The bolls are attacked in the same manner as the 

 squares, but do not drop. The weevils also do consider- 

 able injury by eating into the bolls, making ugly punctures 

 with their stout little snouts. Although a single larva will 

 ruin a boll, as many as a dozen are often found in one. 

 Thus the destruction goes on, and inasmuch as it takes 

 each female several days to complete her egg-laying, by 

 July the different generations or broods have become so 

 intermingled that it is impossible to make a distinction. 

 Not until the frosts of late fall do the weevils cease to 

 breed and feed. Then they go into winter quarters, and 

 almost all of the larvae are killed by the frosts. 



