The Mexican cotton-boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boh.) . ; the one at the right not cut, andshowing feeding punctures and oviposition marks. and pupae as well. A single female will occupy herself with egg-layingfor a considerable number of days, so that there arises by July an inex-tricable confusion of generations, and the insect may be found in thefield in all stages at the same time. The bolls, as we have just stated,do not drop as do the squares, but gradually become discolored, usuallyon one side only, and by the time the larva becomes full grown generallycrack open at the tip. While in
The Mexican cotton-boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis Boh.) . ; the one at the right not cut, andshowing feeding punctures and oviposition marks. and pupae as well. A single female will occupy herself with egg-layingfor a considerable number of days, so that there arises by July an inex-tricable confusion of generations, and the insect may be found in thefield in all stages at the same time. The bolls, as we have just stated,do not drop as do the squares, but gradually become discolored, usuallyon one side only, and by the time the larva becomes full grown generallycrack open at the tip. While in a square one usually finds but a singlelarva, in a full-grown boll as many as twelve have been found. In anycase, however, the hatching of a single larva in a boll results in thedestruction of the boll to such an extent that its fiber is useless. Whereno serious frost occurs in December, the insects all, or nearly all, reachmaturity and enter hibernating quarters, although larvae have beenfound on into January at Sharpsburg. Whenever a heavy frost comes. in this month, or before, the observations of last fall show that thoseinsects which have not reached the beetle stage are nearly all this fact it follows that the insect will probably not prove asinjurious in other portions of the cotton belt as it is in southern Texas. It was found during the latter part of 1895 that the weevil was presentin a number of localities in which it was not knownby the planters themselves to occur. It is impor-tant that every planter who lives in or near theregion which we have mapped out should be ableto discover the weevil as soon as it makes itsappearance in his fields. Where a field is at allbadly infested the absence of bloom is an indica-tion of the presence of the insect. In the earlypart of the season the weevils attack the squaresfirst, and these wilt and drop off. A field maybein full blossom, and as soon as the insect spreadswell through it hardly a blossom will be
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidme, booksubjectinsectpests
