SEASONAL HISTORY. 41 



ABILITY TO LOCATE COTTON. 



When hibernated weevils emerge from their winter quarters in 

 search of food they are frequently long distances from the nearest 

 cotton field. It has been a question of considerable interest whether 

 the weevils are able to locate cotton or whether they find it by chance. 

 Dr. A. W. Morrill conducted a series of experiments in the laboratory 

 to test the attraction of cotton squares for the weevil, but the results 

 were not conclusive. In the eight years of study of the boll weevil, 

 there have been very few records of weevils on any other plants than 

 cotton, notwithstanding the fact that special collections were made 

 in the woods and fields near the cotton fields in search of boll weevils. 

 In the season of 1905 extensive collections were made bv means of 

 sweeping nets by several men for weeks during the dispersion season, 

 and yet not a single weevil was found outside of the cotton fields. 

 All of this would indicate that there is some attraction of the weevils 

 to cotton. The concentration of weevils upon the earliest plants in 

 the spring and upon the greenest and most luxuriant portions of the 

 fields in the fall are also evidences of the ability of the weevils to 

 find desirable places for feeding. 



FEEDING HABITS OF HIBERNATED WEEVILS. 



Whether there be few or many hibernated weevils makes no differ- 

 ence in their feeding habits. * The stage of the cotton at the date of 

 emergence determines largely the nature of the food habits at that 

 time. The first weevils to emerge obtain their food from the tender, 

 rapidly growing, terminal portions of the young plants. They place 

 themselves upon the node where the two cotyledons branch. In fact, 

 this seems to be the point usually attacked in cases of very young 

 cotton plants. In almost all cases the puncture of the weevil at this 

 point results in the death of the plant. Sometimes the attack is 

 made a little above the node on a petiole of the cotyledon, in which 

 case the one cotyledon falls and the other remains, and the plant 

 usually recovers. However, it frequently happens that the same 

 weevil attacks both of the cotyledons. This form of attack is fatal 

 to the seedlings unless they have become very vigorous — sometimes 

 until they have developed two true leaves. Later the central bud, 

 young leaves, or tender stems are attacked, and upon these the weevils 

 easily subsist until the squares are developed. (See PI. V, a. ) In cases 

 where the emergence from hibernation is very large the weevils may 

 come out in such numbers upon the newly sprouted cotton as to 

 stunt or even kill the growing plants by their depredations upon the 

 terminal portion. 



Weevils which have fed upon tender tips of plants seem perfectly 

 satisfied with their food supply, and it appears that their first meal 

 upon squares is largely the result of accident. After having begun 

 to feed upon squares, however, it appears that their taste becomes 

 so fixed that they normally seek for squares. 



In the spring of 1895 Mr. E. A. Schwarz found the first emerged 

 hibernated weevils working upon plants which had sprung from 

 2-year-old roots. In the spring of 1903 in one field of comparatively 

 early cotton, 2 or 3 acres in extent, the senior author found, between 

 April 24 and May 11, 23 weevils working on the buds and tender 

 leaves of stubble plants before a single weevil was found on the 



