Host-Plant Selection by Migrating Boll Weevils12

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Abstract
Field experiments were conducted at Florence, S. C., in 1963 and 1964 to study the roles of odor and color in selection of host plants by the boll weevil, Authonomus grandis Boheman. Periodic removal of all or part of the fruiting forms from cotton plants did not reduce their attractiveness to this insect. Moreover, boll weevils were attracted to fruiting cotton plants in significantly larger numbers than to cocklebur plants of similar size and color, or to green or red-painted plastic forms, indicating that under the conditions of the tests the primary attractant of cotton plants to the insect is odor.