8 PAPERS OX THE COTTOX 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 by these factors, for after the third brood becomes matured 

 the number of weevils depends entirely upon these conditions. 



DEVELOPMENT OE IMMATURE STAGES DURING XORMAL PERIOD OF 



HIBERNATION. 



In southern Texas during an open dry winter larva?, pupa?, and 

 adult weevils may frequently be found in the injured bolls hanging 

 upon the cotton stalks. In feeding upon the bolls the larva? 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 

 larva? 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. AYe have been unable to make a personal 

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

 Allgood, of Devine, Medina County, 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 larva?, but which contained only larva? which 

 may 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 evidently 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 fully devel- 

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

 seeds during the early winter, for as the cotton matures the seeds 

 would be more succulent. However, it seems exceedingly improba- 

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

 for they occur withiu the seed only 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 those. 20 per cent had been noticeably injured by 

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

 some stage. In these 4<> bolls there were 40 live and 11 dead pique. 



