4 MISC. PUBLICATION 484, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



HOW AND WHERE THE BOLL WEEVIL SPENDS 

 THE WINTER 



In the fall, when the weather turns chilly and the nights are frosty, 

 the cotton plant stops fruiting and the boll weevils have no more 

 food. They then look for a shelter of some kind and take a long 

 winter nap, as a bear does. But they do not always have such a well- 

 sheltered place as a bear's den in which to make their winter bed. 

 Some of them will creep under dead grass or fallen leaves, whereas 

 others will fly to the Spanish moss that hangs from tree branches in 

 long gray streamers in some parts of the Cotton Belt. This moss 

 (fig. 3) is a favorite sleeping place, although it would not seem to offer' 

 much protection in winter. 



Figure 3. — In the fall, when the weather turns chilly and the nights are frosty, 

 the boll weevils look for shelter of some kind in which to take their long winter 

 nap. Favorable shelters adjoining cotton fields are weeds, grasses, woods 

 trash, and Spanish moss hanging from the trees. 



A great many weevils never wake from their sleep but are killed 

 by the cold of winter. It has been found, by men who have kept the 

 insects in large outdoor screen cages over winter, that in ordinary 

 years only about six or seven out of a hundred ever wake up in the 

 spring. When weevils are kept in cages like these for study, they are 

 given the kind of sleeping quarters they would themselves choose, and 

 the cages are kept in the same weather that the insects would have to 

 stand if they were in their natural homes. If the weather is extremely 

 cold during the winter, very few weevils will live ; but if it is unusually 

 warm, more will live. 



Early in the spring the weevils begin to wake up, but they do not 

 all wake up at the same time. Some are early risers whereas others 

 are late sleepers. Some of them wake up in March while others 

 appear in April and May, and some stragglers do not come to life 

 even until June and July. If the newly awakened weevils find cotton 



