loo 



PESTS OF THE COTTON PliANT. 



Fig. 112. 



Cocoon of Cotton 



Bud Caterpillar, 



ti-ith adhering 



soil. 



browu. This jJest is easy to recognise from the twisted leaves at the end 



of the shoot and their withered appearance. 



The caterpillar is a small opaque g-reeu one, with faint longitudinal 

 lines of browu pigment visible only when examined with 

 a lens. It feeds upon the cotton bud and on the leaves 

 at the tip of the shoot, webbing these together with 

 threads. The small brown pupa is fouud within the 

 twisted leaves. The moth is less than half an inch long, 

 the antennse swollen beyond the basal joint, the palpi 

 upturned; the thorax and basal half of the wings are 

 grey, the apical half being darker. It flies in the dusk 

 and is not readily noticed. The caterpillar is found on 

 the cotton from August to November, after which it 

 hibernates. When abundant, the plant grows short and 



bushy, and in many cases the insect does good by effecting an even 



pruning. It is a pest only when abnormally abundant. 



Indigenous cottons similar to the Broach-Deshi, Goghari, etc., are 



attacked ; American and tree cottons appear 



to be immune. The pest is apparently 



widely spread in India but nowhere seriously 



destructive. It is very easily checked by 



pulling off the little dried knots of leaves 



and bm'uing them with the larva or 



pupa inside. Spraying with lead arseni- 



ate also checks it but is not generally 



necessary. The pest is one that is on the 



whole of little importance, and generally 



needs to be checked only on experi- 

 mental farms where the cotton plants are 



required to come to their full normal 



vigour. Parasites keep it in check to 



some extent. Where the mealy bug- 

 attacks cotton, the two pests are found 



Fig. 113. 



together, and often the bud caterpillar 



Moth of Cotton Bud Caterpillar. 

 {3IaffniJied Jive times.) 



is confused with the caterpillar which feeds upon the mealy bui 



The Cotton Stem Borer.^ 



During the growth of liilton plnnis, from tlio iinic the firs< flower 

 buds are formed until the bolls are picked, single plants are found to 



^ 60. Sphenoptcra gossypii. Kerr. (Buprestidse.) 



