47 



.DURATION OF LIFE WITH SWEETENED WATER AND WITH MOLASSES. 



So much has been said about the attraction of molasses for the 

 weevils that tests were made with a cheap grade of molasses diluted 

 with from 20 to 25 parts of water to see whether this solution really 

 served them as food. The weevils used were just adult and had taken 

 no other food. They fed quite readily upon the solution, remaining 

 quietty with their snouts in the water for from a few minutes to an 

 hour and a half at a time. The solution did not seem to draw them 

 from any distance, but as soon as a weevil came to it, it would stop to 

 drink. Feeding or drinking took place daily or oftener until the 

 death of the weevils. The average duration of life for the 12 weevils 

 used was a little less than 6 daj^s. 



As weevils without food but with water lived an average of 5i days, 

 the conclusion is that a solution of molasses 1 to water 25 parts does 

 not serve the weevil as food, since it does not noticeably prolong life. 



Six weevils just emerged kept upon undiluted molasses showed a 

 greater period of life, these dying at an average age of Hi days. 



DURATION OF LIFE WITHOUT FOOD, BUT WITH WATER. 



These observations were made during August as a check upon those 

 without water. The 8 weevils used were just adult and had never 

 fed. Each weevil drank for one or two minutes at least once each 

 day so long as it lived. All died at nearly the same time, having 

 lived for an average of about 5| days. As those without water lived 

 an average of 5 daj r s, it appears that access to water in the absence 

 of food does not materially prolong the life of the starving weevils. 



DURATION OF LIFE WITHOUT FOOD OR WATER. 



Three series of observations were made along this line. In the first 

 series the weevils used were taken immediately after emergence and 

 never allowed to feed. Fifty weevils were tested in this way during 

 July and August and showed an average period of life of 5 days from 

 the date of emergence. A few lived as long as 8 or 9 days. These 

 never acquired as dark a color nor as great a degree of hardness as 

 is normal. 



In the second series the 15 weevils used were 7 weeks old and full 

 fed at the time of beginning the test. These showed an average dura- 

 tion of life of slightly over 6 days, the range being from 5 to 9 days. 

 These weevils were tested during the latter half of November, and the 

 lateness of the season, together with the full-fed condition of the 

 weevils, seemed to promise a considerably longer period than 6 days. 



In the third series the 18 weevils used were 1 month old and full-fed 

 at the beginning of the test in the middle of November. The condi- 

 tions in this series were as in the series preceding, with the exception 



