November 27, 1003.] 



SCIENCE. 



693 



enter into it with the zest and interest worthy 



of the professions represented. 



Ralph Arnold, 

 De Witt C. Wiley. 



U. S. GeOLOOICAL SlRVEY, 



WAsni.NGTOX, D. C, and 



Sta.nforo University, California. 



DISCISSION A^^D CORRESPONDENCE. 



THE MEXICAN COTTON BOLL WEEML. 



To the Editor of Scien'ce : In your issue of 

 Xovember 13 (p. 640) you quote from Brad- 

 street's an item regarding the loss to the cot- 

 ton crop of Texas through the ravages of the 

 Mexican cotton boll weevil. In the course 

 of the article Bradslreet's states that six 

 months ago it advocated a careful considera- 

 tion of the subject by congress. From this 

 quotation alone Bradstreet's seems to be sing- 

 ularly misinformed as to what actually has 

 been done by the government, and the quota- 

 tion will, therefore, mislead your readers. 



In 1894 an investigation of this insect was 

 begun by the Division of Entomology of the 

 U. S. Department of Agriculture, and in 1896 

 and 1897 circulars were published which indi- 

 cated the great danger to the future of cotton 

 in the United States and proposed remedial 

 treatment.' The governor of the atate and the 

 legislature were advised by the department of 

 the condition of affairs and the dangerous pros- 

 pects, and the legislature was urged to pass a 

 crop pest law, the enforcement of which would 

 have resulted in the confinement of the insect 

 to a restricted region in extreme southern 

 Texas, and possibly in its extermination even 

 in that region. The legislation proposed was 

 not enacted. For the past three years the 

 Division of Entomology has been carrying on 

 further investigations through appropriations 

 from congress of $10,000 in the fiscal year 

 1901-2, $20,000 in 1902-3, and $30,000 in 

 1903—4. It has resulted from this work that, 

 while no method of extermination has been dis- 

 covered, it has been demonstrated beyond a 

 doubt that it is possible, even under present 

 conditions and- in the worst infested portions 

 of Texas, to raise a fair crop of cotton in spite 

 of the weevil. Experimental demonstrations 

 have been made the past summer on several 



luiiidred acres of cotton lands at six stations 

 under the control of the Division of Ento- 

 mology, and on this controlled land from a 

 half of a bale to one bale per acre of cotton 

 has been already harvested, while in adjoining 

 territory the average crop has not exceeded 

 one bale to from six to fifteen acres. 



L. O. Howard. 



SHORTER ARTICLES. 

 SOilE INSECT REFLEXES. 



In the course of some experiments on the 

 sense-reactions of honey-bees, I have kept a 

 small comnumity of Italian bees in a glass- 

 sided, narrow, high observation hive, so made 

 that any particular bee, marked, which it is 

 desired to observe constantly, can not escape 

 this observation. The hive contains but two 

 frames, one above the other, and is made 

 wholly of glass, except for the wooden frame. 

 It is kept covered, except during observation 

 periods, by a black cloth jacket. The bees 

 live contentedly and normally in this small 

 hive, needing only occasional feeding at times 

 when so many cells are given up for brood that 

 there are not enough left for sufficient stored 

 food supplies. Last spring at the normal 

 swarming time, while standing near the 

 jacketed hive, I heard the excited hum 

 of a beginning swarm and noted the first 

 issuers rushing pellmell from the entrance. 

 Interested to see the behavior of the com- 

 munity in the hive during such an ecstatic 

 condition as that of swarming, I lifted the 

 cloth jacket, when the excited mass of bees 

 which was pushing frantically down to the 

 small exit in the lower corner of the hive 

 turned with one accord about face and rushed 

 directly upward away from the opening to- 

 ward and to the top of the hive. Here the 

 bees jammed, struggling violently. I slipped 

 the jacket partly on; the ones covered turned 

 down; the ones below stood imdecided; I 

 dropped the jacket completely; the mass began 

 issuing from the exit again ; I pulled off the 

 jacket, and again the whole community of ex- 

 cited bees flowed — that is the word for it, so 

 perfectly aligned and so evenly moving were all 

 the individuals of the bee current — up to the 

 closed top of the hive. Leaving the jacket off 



