104 Biillclin de la Société lùitoiuoloçiiqiie d'iù/iiplt 



proved or (lisj)rove(l, hul as regards llie welfare ol' Ihe 

 insect in (jiieslion il is noi at all necessary thai lliey 

 should Ix' ])ullcd out in this iiianner. xAgain llie rools of 

 the plants do nolapjvear to he constricted or injured in 

 any way hy the clasping of the armed pseudopodia of 

 the larva wheji it attaches itself to [)upate. 



The (pieslion now arises as to why this Ephydra 

 should l)e connected at all with injury to living rice 

 jilanls when it heconies evident that the larvae exist in. 

 enormous numl)ers in wat'jr in which no li\ ing Ncgela- 

 tion — other tlian algae and such like forms — exists. 

 At the present lime (Autumn l'.)l()) /:. miicvlUir'ui is 

 swarming in pools of iniiltration water (from the high 

 Nile) at Ghezireh, In these pools there is noliiing hul 

 decaying eucalyptus and casuarina leaves, and straw 

 chatV, The larvae can often he found in village hirkels 

 (ponds) esjiecially if the water he sally. 



Perhaps some of you at this meeling can throw 

 light on this matter. I, so far as my ohservalions 

 have gone, consider Ihal the case against the Rice I'^ield 

 Fly. il. iii(tccll(iri(i stands « not proven » and it is ])eing 

 used hy the rice growers as something in llie nature of 

 a (( whipping post» for olher agencies which are or may 

 he the real causes of thedxin;; oil" oi" young rice. These 

 may he —(1) chemical, (2) fungoid diseases, {'A) other 

 insects. As regards (1), the soil may he loo sail even for 

 rice to grow successfully or injurious suhsiances may 

 perhaps sometimes l)e pr(;duccd in llu' soil owing lo the 

 conditions under which rice is grown: (2) there are 

 fungoid diseases of rice, hul whelher or not they occur 

 in I'^gypl I do not know : (.'5) as regards olher insects, it 

 is jiossihie that the larvae of a cei lain species of Die 



