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the insect attacking- fall- grown green bolls as late as December. Only 
a few of the smallest bolls, when attacked, drop off; and this is the 
case, usually, only in the early part of the season. Even buds, when 
attacked, often remain on the stalk without dropping. Mr. Townsend 
has picked hundreds of full-grown bolls and dead bolls from the stalks, 
which contained weevils — sometimes as many as eleven in a single boll. 
At the end of March, in the vicinity of Brownsville, there were 
quantities of infested dead and dryHjolls still hanging firmly on the 
dead and dry last year's stalks: and Mr. Townsend found the larva; of 
weevils in such bolls long after the February snow, and as late as 
March 24. 
Popular Names. — The matter of popular names, referred to in a para- 
graph above, is a most difficult one to handle; and the genesis of popular 
names is always interesting. For many years entomologists have been 
in the habit of proposing popular names for insects, and in proposing 
these names an attempt has naturally been made to avoid duplication 
and the consequent confusion. Field naturalists in general have shown 
a certain contempt for these proposals, which they designate "book" 
names, and this attitude has been shared by some practical men, farm- 
ers amoug the rest. This has been largely due to the absurd character 
of man}' of the popular names so proposed; but after all, what is one 
to do ? 
It is nearly always impossible to trace the origin of a popular name 
which grows up among the people. It is rarely specifically distinctive, 
but it is catch}*, frequently phonetic, and more or less descriptive. The 
names in use among the people should always be adopted by entomo- 
logical writers, unless the probability of serious confusion should exist. 
Where the insect comes into x^rominence for the first time an attempt 
should be made to suggest a catchy, descriptive popular title, which 
will cause no confusion. Such a name will be readily and generally 
adopted, whereas if a bookish name (like those, for instance, commonly 
in vogue among collectors of Lepidoptera in England) be selected, it 
will not be taken up by the people, and some other name may come into 
use which may be far worse, on account of its preoccupation by some 
other insect, either of the same general region or of some other part of 
the country. The " gypsy moth." for example, is a book name, but it is 
short, and easily remembered, and readily came into popular use. The 
<4 red-humped prominent/' however, or the ••Brighton wainscot,"' or the 
"Pigmy Footman,'' are examples of a class of names to be avoided. 
They convey no idea to the ordinary individual, and are bookish to the 
last degree. 
Where the scientific generic name of an insect is short and euphoni- 
ous, experience has shown that it will be gradually adopted. We have 
many such examples in botany, such as Geranium, Magnolia, Gladiolus, 
