PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECOND ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 1015) 
Heliothis obsoleta has attained notoriety in America as the cotton 
boll-worm of that part of the world, but it is very curious that in India 
it has never been noticed as a cotton pest. It does occur on cotton, but 
rather as a curiosity than asa pest, and that is about all we can say 
about it. It has been reared at Pusa on cotton-bud and cotton-boll, 
at Khandesh and Dhulia on cotton-buds, at Nagpur on cotton-boll. 
Tt is curious and interesting to find this great difference in its preference 
for food exhibited by this insect in India and the United States, but we 
shall come to a parallel case when we come to consider Phthorimea 
operculella which attacks stored potatoes in India but has never been 
noticed on tobacco leaves, although in North America and South Africa 
this same insect is well-known as a pest of tobacco in the field. Facts 
of this sort require to be borne in mind especially when we come to con- 
sider the results which may follow on the introduction of insects into 
new countries or localities. 
Dysdercus cingulatus [South Indian Insects,” p. 484, tab. 46] occurs 
everywhere in India and Burma and is sometimes a serious pest of cotton. 
It is found on numerous other malvaceous plants, Hibiscus, Abutilon, 
Althea, Thespesia, Bombaz, etc., and often occurs in very large numbers, 
the immature nymphs clustering in masses and forming masses of vivid 
scarlet conspicuous at a great distance. When found in masses like 
this they are fairly easily dealt with by spraying, squashing, or burning 
them en masse. On cotton plants they can be collected by shaking 
into trays or into the tin funnels, fitted with a bag, as used in the West 
Indies. They may also be attracted to collections of cotton-seeds 
placed among the cotton-plants, and large numbers may be obtained 
in this way. If the seeds are wrapped in wire gauze or wire-netting, 
it makes it more convenient, as the mass of seeds can be picked up and 
the bugs shaken off. 
As regards the actual damage done, we require to ktow more. The 
bugs suck the seeds and must damage them as regards their oil-content. 
Last year we experimented with Dysdercus on Bombax seeds as regards 
the effect on germination, but the experiments were a failure, as all the 
seeds, both those sucked by the bugs and the clean, unsucked seeds 
kept as controls, all equally failed to germinate. 
In Bombay Dysdercus cingulatus ig found everywhere. At Poona 
cotton-seeds were :oaked in water for a few hours and then enclosed 
inmuslin bags, which were placed here and there amongst the cotton- 
plants. These bags attracted large numbers of bugs which were shaken 
off into a vessel containing kerosine oil and water and the bags put 
down again. 
Mr. sghaveri. 
