636 JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY [Vol. 17 
velopment, even had unfavorable winter weather not intervened. 
This absence of food prevented later heavy infestations. 
From the 69 pounds of black-eyed cowpeas (original weight) 137,233 
emerged weevils were recorded as having been caught about the cage. 
At the end of the experiment the dead weevils loose among the seeds in 
the bag were measured; from an actual count of a smaller measured lot 
the total number of adult weevils that had emerged and died within the 
sack was estimated at 56,100. This makes a total of 193,333 adult 
weevils that were recorded. 
At the close of the experiment the 69 pounds of cowpeas had been 
reduced to 26% pounds, a loss of about 62 per cent. There was also 15 
ounces of frass scattered free within the bag. 
It required 3,150 of these weevil eaten cowpeas to make a pound, 
therefore, 82,687 cowpeas were contained in the 26% pounds within the 
bag. This would indicate that at least 2-% weevils had emerged from 
each cowpea. A count of the emergence holes showed that 445 weevils 
or about 4per seed had emerged from 100 cowpeas. On this basis it 
would appear that 367,957 weevils had emerged, of which 174,624 had 
escaped unrecorded. It was known that after the first generation, 
large numbers were escaping. Thousands of weevils were also lost in the 
loose dirt on which the cage was standing, so it is believed that an estimate 
of 4.45 weevils per cowpea is not too high an estimate of the number 
produced. 
That practically all of the food material was eaten out of the cowpea 
was shown when a number of the cowpeas were dissected. It was im¬ 
possible to determine the number of dead larvae that were contained with¬ 
in the seeds because the small larvae after drying could not be separated 
from the frass within the cowpeas. The dissection of 100 cowpeas showed 
138 dead pupae and adults which apparently had starved to death before 
becoming fully developed. On that basis 114,108 pupae and adults had 
died within the seeds. It is probable that several times as many young 
larvae died for want of food. 
Several undetermined species of spiders lived about the cage and 
preyed to some extent on the weevils. Only 210 adults w r ere recorded as 
having been killed by spiders. 
Observations in the field indicate that weevily beans and cowpeas 
left neglected about storage places are practically the only source of in¬ 
festation for growing crops. 
While inspecting lots of beans as they were being delivered to a ware¬ 
house at Puente, California, the senior writer came across a lot of weevily 
