Bill Morrison, age 10 of Phoenix, Arizona, for His question:

How can we tell if a prehistoric animal ate meat or vegetables?

Once in a while, a cat will chew a few blades of grass. But what a job it is for him. He nags away, turning his head this way and that. Fact is, his teeth are not suited for eating grass. They are built for tearing and ripping meat. A rabbit, on the other hand, has teeth for chewing salads and vegetables. He could not eat meat if he wanted.

Many prehistoric animals left behind their fossilized teeth. A nine‑inch sabre‑shaped tooth was found in the La Brea Tar Pits. Certainly its owner was a meat eater. Such teeth were made for tearing meat and were unable to chew grass.

The ancient horse left fossil records of his teeth. He had grinding teeth. So we know he was a vegetarian. We can tell whether a bygone animal ate meat, vegetables, or both, from the teeth he left behind. Claws also indicate that an animal was a meat eater. He needs sharp claws to use as a knife and fork. The vegetarian animals need special feet for running away from danger. Many of them have hoofs. 

Boll Weevil and what it has done as the herald of prosperity this monument was erected by the citizens of Enterprise, Coffee County Alabama.

As an adult, the boll weevil is a snout‑nosed beetle no longer than one fifth of an inch. The only harm done by the adult beetle is in laying its eggs. The eggs hatch into grubs. And it is the hungry little grubs that do the damage. The cotton boll weevil grubs feed on the buds and the bolls of the cotton plant. The mother is careful to put her eggs where the young grubs will hatch near a plentiful supply of food. So far, these pests have done over five billion dollars worth of damage to cotton growers of the Southland.

The boll weevil comes from a whole family of insect pests, There is the potato weevil who attacks potatoes. There are other weevils who specialize in attacking rice, peas, beans, strawberries, sugar cane, grape vines, corn and clover. Altogether there are about 20,000 varieties of these small, pesky beetles. But only one of them has a monument.