242 
Journal of Agricultural Research 
Vol. II, No. 3 
lowing summary will give an idea of what might have been expected 
from these weevils. Of the nine boll weevils started, two died with an 
average longevity of 6 days, while seven were still alive when the food 
became exhausted—34 days after the emergence. These seven weevils 
died on an average of 4.8 days after the stoppage of feeding. 
Each female was observed in copulation at least once, and a total of 13 
records of copulation were made in the course of the daily examination. 
The first pair observed in copulation performed this act 6 days after 
emergence. 
Thirty-six eggs were deposited, eighteen in each series. The periods 
from emergence to oviposition were 12 and 14 days in the cases where 
this record was available. 
The eggs deposited were placed in 21 buds, an average of 1.7 eggs per 
bud. Three of these buds produced adult boll weevils, 8 bloomed, 9 
showed no sign of larval work, and 1 was nearly consumed by a larva 
before its death. The eggs deposited on September 21, 24, and 30 pro¬ 
duced a male, a female, and a male on October 8, 10, and 15—develop¬ 
mental periods of 17, 16, and 15 days, respectively. 
SUMMARY OR HIBISCUS EXPERIMENTS 
From the foregoing experiments it is quite evident that it is possible 
for Anthonomus grandis and A. grandis thurberiae to breed in the buds of 
Hibiscus syriacus. And not only is this possible, but all indications 
point toward the conclusion that this breeding would be no rarity. 
While there was little oviposition and no breeding in the series conducted 
early in the season, this may have been due to the writer’s lack of knowl¬ 
edge of the correct way to keep the food in proper condition. The ovi¬ 
position in the fall series may seem low, but that of females on squares 
at this time was no higher. The weather was unusually cold during this 
period and the oviposition of all boll weevils, regardless of food, was 
extremely variable by days. 
These data prove beyond doubt that the boll weevils fed from the time 
of emergence only on the buds and bloom of Hibiscus can develop suffi¬ 
ciently sexually to produce a number of normal fertile eggs and to deposit 
them normally. The copulation of these boll weevils was quite normal. 
Almost every pair was observed in copulation in the course of the daily 
examination. In a number of experiments in attempting to get weevils 
to copulate when they had been fed only on cotton leaves since emergence 
the writer was successful in only a very limited number of cases and was 
never able to secure a record of any of these depositing eggs, though they 
lived for long periods. From this it seems probable that some feeding 
on bud, bloom, or fruit tissue is necessary for sexual maturity, and the 
buds or bloom of Hibiscus will serve this purpose instead of those of 
cotton. 
The eggs deposited were all placed in normally sealed punctures, and 
dissection of the buds always showed them to be placed partially within 
the inner folds of the corolla and partially within the outer layer of 
immature anthers. At least 90 per cent of all the eggs deposited were 
placed in older buds which had started to open slightly, and the punc¬ 
tures were made through the exposed tips of the involuted corolla. The 
favorite location of these egg punctures is through the corolla in the base 
of the clefts then forming between the sepals. This deposition in the 
corolla is probably due to the extreme pilosity and toughness of the calyx. 
