Note: Information is dated. Do not rely on it.

Boll-Weevil. The name applied to various insects which attack the cotton plant. The most destructive of these, the Mexican boll-weevil (Anthonomus grandis), was formerly confined chiefly to Central America and the West Indies. About 1888 it reached Matamoras, Mexico, and soon after appeared across the Rio Grande near Brownsville whence it spread throughout the cotton belt of Texas, causing enormous damage. The adult insect, a long-snouted, grayish weevil, somewhat less than a fourth of an inch long, punctures the bolls in which it lays its eggs. Upon hatching, the larvae feed upon the soft tissues of the buds and bolls. The mature larvae pupate within the bolls. After hibernating, chiefly in old bolls, the adult weevils appear about blossoming time. The most effective protection is afforded by early planting in wide rows to admit the sunshine, by frequent cultivation, and by burning or plowing under affected plants early in autumn.

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