104 



PESTS OT" THE COTTON PLANT. 



Fig. 120. 

 TJie Cotton Stem Weevil. 

 (Afagnified seven times.) 



excrement. Tlie grub is white, leg-less, not conspicuously swollen in 



front. It transforms in the burrow to a small white pupa without cover- 

 ing. From this a small weevil emerges, 

 in length about one-eighth of an inch, 

 of a brown colour with black and whitish 

 marks. The insect has a slender curved 

 beak. 



The weevil is so small and its 

 flight so quick and active that it is 

 not easy to find in the field. They 

 may be found coupling on the cotton 

 plants prior to egg-laying, but are not 

 likely to be seen or recognised. As a 



result of the attack of this pest, the cotton branch dies or the stem 



of the cotton plant swells and in a high wind breaks. The peculiar 



swelling of the base of the stem of the Broach- 



Deshi cotton plant is a symptom of this pest, and 



though the plant lives, it may be destroyed in 



the first high wind. In Behar, the Broach, 



Goghari and other Bombay-Deshi cottons were 



attacked in the stems, the Egyptian cottons 



seriously injured in the same way and certain 



varieties of tree cotton {Caravonica and others) 



attacked in the branches. Other tree cottons and 



many indigenous cottons were on the whole 



exempt from attack. Once infested the plant is 



doomed and only preventive measures are effective. 



Experiments with trap cottons and other trap 



plants are in progress, and further investigation 



may reveal some method of checking it. The pest is unlikely to occur only 



in Behar and may be looked for in other parts of India. 



Fig. 121. 



T7ie Cotton Stem Weecil. 

 {3Iagnified seven times.) 



The Red Cotton Bug.i 



This insect is the most familiar insect pest of cotton occurring gen- 

 erally in India, attracting attention rather from its vivid colouring than 

 its destructiveness. It is almost identical with the Red Cotton Stainer 

 of the United States and West Indies. The full grown insect measures 

 a little more than half-an-inch from the head to the tip of the wings. 

 Red is the predominant colour, the eyes, the antennae, a spot on the 



' 69, D^sdercus cingulatusf. Fabr, (Pyrrhocoridse.) 



