133 



upon these are from 2 to 3 millimeters long; they stand thickly and 

 are quite stiff. Over these spines weevils walked easily, but though 

 they attempted vigorously to get their heads down between the spines 

 far enough to feed, they were unable to do so.' A number of weevils 

 were kept for several da3^s upon these pods, but they were unable to 

 feed. The spines were then removed from a small area, and the 

 insects began to feed immediately. 



Weevils travel with difficulty over loose cotton fibers, as their feet 

 become entangled among them. 



PROLIFERATION AND ITS EFFECT IN BOLLS AND SQUARES. 



In making careful examinations of thousands of squares and bolls 

 attacked by weevils, it has been found that an abnormal condition of 

 the interior usuall}^ follows closely upon the weevil attack. This con- 

 dition is not, however, characteristic of weevil work, but appears to 

 be a ph^^siological reaction to injury such as feeding punctures made 

 by weevils, bollworms, or other insects, in cases where the injury 

 done is not sufficiently great to cause the immediate and total destruc- 

 tion of the square or boll attacked. The abnormal condition referred 

 to is characterized by a change in texture and structure of the tissues 

 which is ver}^ marked. The change appears to begin usually near the 

 outer ends of the tissues which have been wounded by the attack, and 

 is caused by a proliferation of tissue cells. It may be likened to a 

 partial sv/elling of starch granules. The tissues lose their firmness, 

 form, and normal texture, breaking up into a mass of soft pulpy 

 granules or cells. This condition often spreads beyond the immediate 

 point of origin (PL XIX, fig. 82). Not infrequently decay ensues, 

 and the entire mass shrinks in volume and turns dark brown in color 

 (PL XX, fig. 83). For the present purpose, and until a minute study 

 can be made of this phenomenon, it will answer our purpose to describe 

 this change as a process of gelatinization, and to call the pulpy trans- 

 formed tissue gelatin, because of its general superficial resemblance 

 thereto. 



The nature of the change appears to be the same in both squares 

 and bolls. By the increase of the pulpy mass considerable pressure 

 is produced, so that frequently the squares are badly distorted in form, 

 and bolls have been seen in which the pressure was so great as to force 

 out a column of the gelatin through an open feeding puncture of a 

 small bollworm. 



GELATIN FORMATION IN BOLLS. 



This formation occurs commonly in small bolls, and more rarely 

 after the bolls become more than two-thirds grown or nearly matured. 

 Examination of a series of about 800 bolls shows that in between 95 

 and 98 per cent of all locks attacked by the weevil gelatin formation 

 results, regardless of the variety of cotton or the nature of fertilizers 

 which may be applied. Rainy weather and wet ground seem to favor 



