DESCRIPTION. 35 



the teeth upon the inner side of the fore femora are nearly black. 

 The body is soft, and the young adult is unable to travel, conse- 

 quently this period is passed where pupation occurs. Usually two 

 or more days are required to attain the normal coloring and the 

 necessary degree of hardness to enable the adult to make its escape 

 from the square or cell. 1 This is known as the teneral adult stage. 



DESCRIPTION OF ADULT. 



The following technical description of the species is taken from the 

 Revision of Genera and Species of Anthonomini Inhabiting North 

 America, by Dietz. 2 



Anthonomus grandis Boh. — Stout, subovate, rufo-piceous and clothed with coarse, 

 pale-yellowish pubescence. Beak long, slender, shining, and sparsely pubescent at 

 the base; striate from base to the middle, etrise rather coarsely punctured; apical 

 half finely and remotely punctured. Antennae slender, second joint of funicle longer 

 than the third; joints 3-7 equal in length, but becoming gradually wider. Head 

 conical, pubescent, coarsely but remotely punctured, front foveate. Eyes moder- 

 ately convex, posterior margin not free. Prothorax one-half wider than long; base 

 feebly bisinuate, posterior angles rectangular; sides almost straight from base to mid- 

 dle, strongly rounded in front; apex constricted and transversely impressed behind 

 the anterior margin; surface moderately convex, densely and subconfluently punc- 

 tured; punctures irregular in size, coarser about the sides; pubescence more dense 

 along the median line and on the sides. Elytra oblong, scarcely wider at the base 

 than the prothorax; sides subparallel for two-thirds their length, thence gradually 

 narrowed to and separately rounded at the apex, leaving the pygidium moderately 

 exposed; striae deep, punctures large and approximate; interstices convex, rugulose, 

 pubescence somewhat condensed in spots. Legs rather stout, femora clavate, ante- 

 rior strongly bidentate, inner tooth long and strong, outer one acutely triangular 

 and connected with the former at the base; middle and posterior thighs unidentate. 

 Tibiae moderately stout, anterior bisinuate internally, posterior straight; tarsi moder- 

 ate, claws broad, blackish, and rather widely separate; tooth almost as long as claw. 

 Long. 5-5.5 mm.; 0.20-0.22 inch. 



SIZE OF WEEVILS. 



The size of boll weevils is somewhat variable. It varies almost 

 directly in proportion to the abundance of the larval food supply and 

 the length of the period of larval development. It also depends 

 upon the nature of the food, whether it is squares or bolls. 3 The 

 smallest weevils are developed from squares which are very small, 

 and which, for some reason, either of plant condition or of additional 

 weevil injury, fall very soon after the egg is deposited. In such cases 

 the supply of food is not only small, but possibly, owing to the imma- 

 turity of the pollen sacs, its quality is poor. Normally, squares con- 

 tinue to grow for a week or more after eggs are deposited in them, 

 and such squares produce the weevils of average size and color. 



The largest weevils are produced in bolls which grow to maturity. 

 In them the food supply is most abundant, and the period of larval 

 development is several times as long as it is in squares. Weevils 

 reared from squares late in the season, where infestation has reached 

 its maximum, are of small size, whereas weevils reared from large 

 bolls are very noticeably larger. The extremes are so great that the 

 largest and smallest weevils would be thought, by one not familiar 



1 The foregoing is extracted from Bulletin 51, Bureau of Entomology, p. 39. 



2 Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 18, p. 205. 



3 The following sentences are taken from Bulletin 51, Bureau of Entomology, p. 41, 



