8 PAPERS ON THE COTTON BOLL WEEVIL, ETC. 



weather conditions. There seems to be no reason to believe that any 

 difference will be found in the number of weevils in infested fields in 

 northern Texas as compared with southern Texas except as it may be 

 controlled b}" these factors, for after the third brood becomes matured 

 the number of weevils depends entireh" upon these conditions. 



DEVELOPMENT OF IMMATURE STAGES DURING NORMAL PERIOD OF 



HIBERNATION. 



In southern Texas during an open dr}^ winter larvae, pupae, and 

 adult weevils may frequenth^ be found in the injured bolls hanging 

 upon the cotton stalks. In feeding upon the bolls the larvae frequently 

 eat a hole thru the septum between two locks and form a small cavity 

 just under the inner surface of the lock. These feeding cavities 

 become lined by the dried and hardened excrement, so that when a 

 lock is broken to pieces the weevil cells may be separated out and have 

 quite the appearance of seeds. It is within such cells that the imma- 

 ture stages pass the winter in the bolls. Occasionally, however, the 

 larvae eat into the seed, so that immature stages may be found actually 

 within the seeds. This is undoubtedly not the usual habit and there 

 seems to be practically^ no danger of disseminating weevils actually 

 secreted inside of the seeds. We have been unable to make a personal 

 examination of these conditions, but on February 20, 1903, Mr. W. P. 

 Allgood, of Devine, Medina Count}^, Tex., wrote us sending some 

 cotton bolls and seed, in which we found 4 weevils alive, 1 dead, 1 

 newly transformed, 1 in a seed, and also 2 seeds which seemed to have 

 been eaten out by weevil larvae, but which contained only larvae which 

 ma}^ have been parasitic upon the weevil. The 4 live weevils were 

 kept in a tube in our laboratory until about April 1, when they died, 

 owing to the unsuitable conditions. 



Several of the infested seeds were evidentlj^ entered before the 

 shell was fully hardened and the normal development of the seed pre- 

 vented, whereas in other cases the weevils were in seeds tuWy devel- 

 oped. It seems quite reasonable that the larvae should bore into the 

 seeds during the earl}^ winter, for as the cotton matures the seeds 

 would be more succulent. However, it seems exceedingh^ improba- 

 ble that weevils could be disseminated by being carried in the seed, 

 for they occur within the seed onh' on unopened bolls which hang 

 upon the plant, and very rarely would cotton in which weevils had 

 entered the seed ever be ginned. 



Early in March of the same year Mr. Allgood sent the writer quite a 

 quantity of bolls, which were examined March 12 with the following 

 results: Out of 200 bolls 165 contained no weevils in any stage, alive 

 or dead, but of these, 20 per cent had been noticeably injured by 

 weevils. Forty, or 20 per cent, contained weevils alive or dead in 

 some stage. In these 40 bolls there were 10 live and 11 dead pupae, 



