Report ox Economic Entomology 
BY 
If.vuoLn ir. King 
[Member of the Association of Economic Biologists 
Introduction 
The first six months, following iny arrival in Khartoum on 11th April, 1906, were Itinerary 
occupied mainly in acquiring some knowledge of the language and agriculture of the 
country. During five days in May, I was engaged in investigating an attack of the berseem 
worm—the larvae of Caradrina exiyiia —on lucerne at the cavalry forage farm at Shendi, and 
from the 14th to the 17th June was on the estate belonging to the Sudan Exploration 
Plantation Syndicate Ltd., at Zeidab, locating the breeding place of the mosquitoes that 
had become a pest there. 
A month, from the middle of July, was spent on the White Nile, and for a week in 
September I was assisting in carrying out a campaign against a swarm of locusts at Geili. 
Two-and-a-half months from the 26th November were occupied in making observations on 
insect pests in general, and the so-called Nimitti in particular, in Dongola Province. 
On the 30th January, 1907, I was sent to Zeidab to ascertain the breeding places of 
the mosquitoes that were said to be the cause of a serious outbreak of malaria on the 
Sudan Exploration Plantation Syndicate, Ltd., estate, and six weeks later went to Abu 
Ilamed to make similar observations on the sandfly, known locally as “ Kilteb.” 
On the 1st of April I proceeded to Shendi, but the attack of “ Asal ” on dura, that had 
been the cause of my journey, was over when I arrived, so, having visited El Darner 
to suggest means with which to suppress the mosquitoes there, I returned to Khartoum, and 
ten days later was on my way to Kordofan. 
A month was spent in that province, making general observations, followed by two 
months on the White Nile and the Sobat, occupied chiefly in studying the bionomics of the 
black seroot, Tabamis biguttatus. 
On the 11th July I was again in Khartoum, and from that date until the end of 
September, when I went to England on leave, was engaged in routine work and in 
endeavouring to suppress some of the swarms of locusts that were making their appearance 
in Khartoum Province. 
I returned from leave on the 28th January, 1908, and ten days later went to Port Sudan 
and Suakin for the purposes of inspecting the Fumigation Chamber that had recently been 
erected in the Quarantine grounds at the former place, and to obtain specimens of the 
mosquito that was reported to breed in salt-water pools. On my way back I spent three 
days at Erkowit, making general observations on the insect pests, and more particularly on 
the mosquitoes and other biting flies that occur in that neighbourhood. 
While these journeyings have prevented me from doing as much research work on the 
life-histories and habits of insect pests as I would have liked, they have yet enabled me to 
obtain a very fair insight into the condition of the inhabitants generally, and the methods 
of agriculture in vogue in many parts of the Sudan. Without such an insight it is 
impossible to recommend, with any confidence, schemes for controlling the various pests 
of man, animals, and crops that are to be found. 
As is natural in a large country such as the Sudan, very great differences exist in 
these conditions and methods. In the extreme south, the actual cultivation of the soil is 
carried on in such a primitive way that the crops are of hardly any importance except to 
