BIOLOGY OF THE MEXICAN COTTON BOLL WEEVIL. ot 
ACTIVITY DURING THE HIBERNATION PERIOD. 
In northern Florida the boll weevil, during the period of hiberna- 
tion, is seldom inactive for a period of time longer than a month. As 
was pointed out, the only months in which the average mean tem- 
perature is below 56° F. are December and January, and even then 
it not mfrequently happens that warm days occur such as would 
force the weevil to activity. Thus it might be said that the hiberna- 
tion of the boll weevil in northern Florida is incomplete. 
TIME OF EMERGENCE FROM HIBERNATION. 
Owing to the incomplete hibernation of the boll weevil in northern 
Florida the time of emergence must necessarily be a variable date. 
February 20 has been selected as the date emergence started in the 
experimental work at Madison. However, six weevils emerged on 
the 10th of February and four on the 16th. After February 20 little 
cold weather is experienced at Madison, and this date may be safely 
assumed to represent approximately the date when emergence begins 
for weevils sheltered in places exposed to the direct rays.of sunlight. 
RATE OF EMERGENCE OF HIBERNATED WEEVILS IN FLORIDA. 
The emergence period in Florida extended over the period from 
February 20 to July 7. The rate of emergence was decidedly more 
gradual than might be expected when the relatively high tempera- 
tures prevailing during March, April, and May are considered. 
The accompanying diagram (fig. 16) shows the daily rate of emer- 
gence of the weevil when hibernating in the open fields, on the 
ground in the woods, and in the moss on the trees 10 feet above 
ground. The diagram also shows three prominent periods of emer- 
gence, or rather accelerations in the rate of emergence—viz, March 
3, April 4, and May 5, 6, and 7. On these dates the rainfall varied 
from 0.1 of an inch on March 3 to 1.75 inches on May 7. The extreme 
emergence recorded for May 6, 7, and 8 was also probably influenced 
by excessive temperatures. In the accompanying chart (fig. 17) the 
total percentage of rainfall compared to the total percentage of 
weevils emerged at different dates also indicates that excessive tem- 
perature was operating along with the rainfall after the 6th of May. 
One of the interesting facts concerning the daily emergence of the 
weevil when hibernating under the three different conditions is that 
the emergence from the cages containing moss as hibernation quar- 
ters was much later than the emergence from the other two sets of 
cages. Spanish moss has been proven to be difficult to warm up 
sufficiently to force the weevils out of winter quarters before late in 
the season and the results at Madison, Fla., corroborate this fact in 
every way. 
