COTTON OR BOLL WEEVILS 6 



then puts a very small pearly-white egg in it. The egg is about the 

 size of a pinhead and is pushed deep down in the hole. In a short 

 time the juices of the plant harden around the egg and completely 

 seal it up within the square. About 3 days later the egg hatches, 

 and a tiny, white, footless grub appears. This grub looks very much 

 like a small worm, and all it can do is eat and grow. 



Owing to the care taken by the mother weevil in placing the egg 

 within the square, the little grub finds itself actually touching the 

 very kind of tender, juicy food that it needs. After eating away for 

 7 to 12 days, the grub, or larva, as the scientist calls it, becomes full 

 grown (fig. 2, A) and changes into another stage, called the pupa 

 (fig. 2, B). This stage in the life of the weevil is like the well-known 

 chrysalis stage of the butterfly, when no food is needed. 



Figure 2. — The pearly-white egg which the mother weevil puts into a tiny hole 

 in the cotton square hatches into a grub. This grub eats and grows for 7 to 12 

 days. It then changes to a pupa. The weevil grub is shown at .1 and the 

 pupa at B. A is about natural size and B about twice natural size. 



After the pupal stage of the weevil has lasted from 3 to 5 days. 

 another change takes place; the little creature sheds its skin and 

 wriggles clear of it in the exact form of the parent weevil that Laid 

 the egg. The egg has now become an adult weevil, which is ready to 

 leave its childhood home. It is still inside the walls of the square, 

 but by using its tiny jaws it soon cuts a hole the size of its body and 

 crawls through it to the outside world. 



When the weevil first comes out of the cotton square, its body is 

 soft and reddish-brown colored. After it has found food and lived in 

 the open air for a few days, the shell of its body hardens and turns 

 a darker shade, hut it does not grow any larger. About 5 days after 

 it has left the square, the weevil, if a female, begins to lay eggs. This 

 is the beginning of another generation. It usually takes from 2 to 3 

 weeks, depending on the weather, for a generation to develop through 

 the different stages of egg, larva, and pupa, to the adtdt. There are 

 several generations each year, made tip of males and females in about 

 equal numbers. 



