96 



HEl'OKT OF THE ENTOMOLOGICAL SECTION 



Insect pests 

 on crops 



Measures to 

 prevent 

 intioduction 

 of injurious 

 insects 



render life a burden in the northeni half of that I'roviiice during the winter months, and 

 was away from Khartoum until May 30. From that date, except for four days spent in 

 Berber in the month of July, I remained in Khartoum until August 25, when I left for 

 England, on leave, to return on November 27. The last month of the year has been spent 

 in writing up this report, in preparing an exhibit of blood-sucking insects and ticks for the 

 International Exhibition of Hygiene held at Dresden in 1911, and in making ready for an 

 expedition to the Bahr-El-Ghazal Province to study the insect pests of that part of 

 the Sudan.' 



With the exception of " Asal fly" on dura in Berber and Khartoum Provinces, and 

 cutworms on the basin cultivations in Dongola Province, there have been no serious 

 outbreaks of insect pests on crops during the past two years. The dura stem-borer, like 

 the poor, is always with us, and some investigations have been carried out on its life history 

 with a view to finding some simple method of controlling it. It is, undoubtedly, responsible 

 for a considerable loss to native cultivators, but, though many of them realise this, it is 

 difficult to persuade them to persevere in any measure likely to >ield good results. The 

 average native appears to be of the opinion that a plague of caterpillars or of some other 

 insect is sent by " Eabonah " and that in all probability " Eabouah " will eventually take it 

 away. In the meantime, he hopes that the Government will grant him a remission of his 

 taxes. The Director, Agriculture and Forests Department, has had translated into Arabic 

 and distributed among native cultivators a paper in which are described the life-cycles 

 of three of the more common insect pests of agriculture — viz., the melon fruit-fly — 

 Bacii>< S2)., the melon plant bug — Aspongopus vidiiatus, Fab., and the cotton stem-boring 

 Ijeetle — Sphenoptera neglecfa, King. It is hoped that by this means the native will be 

 induced to take a more intelligent interest in the foes and friends of his crops. 



Of the grant of £E 700, allotted to be spent in the carrying out of trials to ascertain 

 the value of poisons in the control of locusts in this country, just over £E 500 remains, 

 owing to the non-occurrence of locusts in Berber, the province in which it was intended 

 to make the experiments. This has, in one sense, been very disappointing, as it was 

 hoped to demonstrate the value of the methods employed by the South African Locust 

 Bureau and to induce the Governors of Provinces to adopt these methods throughout 

 the districts in which locusts are in the habit of doing damage. However, as the old adaf'e 

 has it, " everything comes to him who waits," and it is improbable that locusts will 

 prove the exception to the rule. "It is an ill wind that blows nobody good" is another 

 proverb which would not be out of place in this connection. 



The need of some regulation to prevent the introduction of injurious insects 

 on nursery stock imported from other countries was referred to in my last report. 

 A fumigation chamber has now been erected at Haifa, similar to the one at Port 

 Sudan, and an ordinance enforcing the inspection and fumigation of nursery stock, at the 

 port of entry, has recently been published. A copy of this ordinance is a^jpended. The 

 need for such an ordinance was emphasised by the discovery at Darmali of a scale insect 

 — one of the " mussel " scales, but the specimens were too damaged on arrival at Khartoum 

 for determination to be possible — on a young fig tree, recently imported from Egypt. 

 This tig tree has since died from the attacks of Siuoxylon sudanicum and the scale insect 

 perished with it, but had this boring beetle not been present the scale insect would 

 undoubtedly have spread to the other fig trees growing in the immediate vicinity. 



Perhaps the more important insects in this country are those which, by sucking 



' Mr. King has lately been employed iu mapping out tsetse fly areas in the Lado District of Jlongalla 

 Proviucc — -A.B. 



