Certain Biological Effects Produced in the Boll Weevil by Tagging It with p321

Abstract

Boll weevils (Anthonomus grandis Boheman) were tagged with radioactive phosphorus by feeding to adults in solutions or rearing them in larval diets to which H₃P³²O⁴ had been added in varying quantities. The rates of loss of radioisotope were higher for those weevils fed P³² as adults than for the weevils reared on the radioactive larval diet. Studies of the effects of p³² on fecundity, longevity, lengths of oviposition and pre-oviposition periods disclosed that the weevils reared from radioactive larval diet were more adversely affected than the weevils fed as adults. Females reared from the two highest dosages in the diet failed to lay eggs. Larval mortality increased in proportion to the amount of radioactivity in the diet, and mortality was always greater and began sooner for the weevils reared in radioactive larval diet.