February, ’20] NEWELL: POISONING THE BOLL WEEVIL 123 
service that can be recognized as such. Are we ready to give it? Are 
we willing to adjust our ways and manner of thought so that we can 
in the future give this service demanded of us? 
President W. C. O’ Kane: Is there an3 r discussion on this paper? 
If not, we will go to the next paper, “ Notes on Poisoning the Boll 
Weevil,” by Wilmon Newell. 
NOTES ON POISONING THE BOLL WEEVIL 
Results of an Investigation to Determine Whether the Pres¬ 
ence of Dew or Rain Water on Cotton Plants is Necessary 
to the Effective Use of Arsenates 
By Wilmon Newell and Eli K. Bynum 
While it is not our object in the present paper to review the history 
of the various attempts made to poison the boll weevil it is, neverthe¬ 
less, pertinent to call attention to the fact that since the publication 
by the senior author and Mr. Geo. D. Smith, in 1909, 1 of experi¬ 
mental results which showed conclusively that the boll weevil could 
be profitably poisoned with powdered lead arsenate, close attention 
has been given this problem by the Bureau of Entomology. Since 
1909 experiments with lead arsenate, and later with calcium arsenate, 
have been made at the Tallulah (Louisiana) laboratory of the Bureau, 
by Mr. Geo. D. Smith and subsequently by Mr. B. R. Coad, under 
the direction of Dr. W. D. Hunter. 
After eight years of investigation the Bureau of Entomology, in 
July, 1918, finally committed itself to the proposition that the boll 
weevil can be poisoned with profit and has recently undertaken to 
promote the general use of arsenates, particularly calcium arsenate, 
for practical control of the boll weevil by cotton planters. 
According to Bulletin No. 731, United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, by Mr. Coad, issued July 19, 1918, successful poisoning of 
the boll weevil is based upon the supposed habit of the boll weevil in 
drinking dew or rain water which collects on the cotton plants, this 
water presumably becoming poisoned by the application of calcium 
arsenate in the form of a dust or cloud. 
Experiments made by Mr. T. C. Barber and the senior author of the 
present paper, in 1906, 1907, and 1908, seemed to show quite con¬ 
clusively that mortality among the weevils, following application of 
an arsenical poison, was due to ingestion of the poison with their food, 
particularly when the poison was applied in such a way as to penetrate 
between the tender leaves in the terminal buds of the cotton plant or 
1 Circ. 33, Louisiana Crop Pest Commission, Dec. 1, 1909, 
