A Boll Weevil Feeding Deterrent from the Calyx of an Alternate Host, Hibiscus syriacus1

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Abstract
A biologically active material is present in the calyx of Hibiscus syriacus L. (Rose-of-Sharon), an alternate host of the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Boheman. It is responsible, in part, for reducing boll weevil feeding significantly on or ovipositing in the developing bud of this plant. This biologically active material is a feeding deterrent according to a definition previously established: it inhibits feeding or oviposition when present in a place where insects would, in its absence, feed or oviposit. It is water soluble and readily extractable. Rose-of-Sharon calyx extract brushed on cotton buds reduced feeding thereon significantly for 20 hours. When a mixture of freeze dried feeding deterrent and feeding stimulant, containing 2 1/2 times more deterrent than feeding stimulant by weight, was formulated into plugs containing 2 1/2% of agar, feeding response of the boll weevil was completely masked. In a 20-hour test, 10 weevils made only 2 feeding punctures in 2 1/2% agar plugs containing 0.00166% of feeding deterrent by weight as compared with 92 punctures in plugs without the deterrent.