178 



Bulletin 87 



The worms are quarrelsome and cannibalistic; whenever two of 

 them meet a deadly combat follows, and as a result both worms 

 sometimes die. The concentration of a large number of eggs on 

 the silks of an ear of corn saves the egg parasites much trouble in 

 hunting out scattering eggs and insures a heavy mortality from 

 cannibalism. Altho the average number of bollworm eggs on the 

 silks of each ear is high, sometimes in excess of 100, it is rare that 

 more than one or two worms succeed in penetrating into the tip 

 of the corn ear and developing to maturity. 



THE PINK BOLLWORM 



During the past year occasional references have been made in 

 newspapers and farm journals to the Egyptian pink bollworm 



Fig. 6 — The pink bollworm. 1. Fullgrown larva. 2 and 3. Pupae. 4, Adult. 5 and 

 6, Injured cotton seeds. (Hunter) 



(Pectinophora gossypiella Saunders). This insect is reported to be 

 even more serious than the cotton boll weevil. It is supposed to 

 have originated in India and to have been shipped in cotton seed 

 from India to Egypt several years ago. From Egypt the pest has 

 been distributed in cotton seed to various parts of the world includ- 

 ing Brazil and Mexico. 



