44 



being heated individually by steam-jackets, are heated collectively in 

 a gas-oven. No machine of this type has yet been erected, but it 

 should prove satisfactory and particularly easy to control, the 

 maintenance of a steady temperature in a gas-heated machine being 

 a very simple matter. The Egyptian Engineering Co.'s (Murdoch's) 

 machine is a somewhat novel type, which has been erected 

 experimentally. It consists of a central heating cylinder surrounded 

 by an outer cylinder, the space between being divided by longitudinal 

 partitions into three sections, along which the seed is propelled by 

 means of oblique flanges fixed on the inner surface of the outer 

 cylinder. Five divisions are suggested as an improvement on three. 

 The machine is said to be cheap and easy to construct, but would be 

 rather more bulky than most of those described above. 



Further experiments with Dell's Mechanical Cleaner [see this Review, 

 Ser. A, iii, p. 505] confirm the opinion that this machine is not to be 

 recommended for treatment against the pink bollworm, but might 

 prove very useful for separating good seed from bad. 



Bats as Guardians of Cotton. — Agric. News, Barbados, xvi, no. 405, 

 3rd November 1917, p. 344. 



A correspondent from Bahia, Brazil, has found the best method of 

 dealing with boUworms, cutworms and other larvae of night-flying 

 moths, to be the establishment of colonies of insectivorous bats. A 

 dark hut, with a few cross poles near the roof, will soon attract numbers. 

 Colonies have been established in this way in Texas for the purpose of 

 combating mosquitos and at the same time for producing guano [see 

 this Review, Ser. B, i, p. 176]. In cotton districts it might be worth 

 while to try a similar experiment. It must be remembered, however, 

 that the fruit-eating bats would be useless for this purpose, and 

 experimenters, who would find them more abundant in the West 

 Indies than the smaller insectivorous species, must be careful not to 

 encourage them. 



HuTSON (J. C). The Pink Boll Worm {Pectinophora [Gelechia] gossy- 

 fiella, Saunders). —^^rnc. News, Barbados, xvi, no. 405,3rd 

 November 1917, pp. 346-347. 



This paper comprises a resume of the life-history and distribution 

 of the pink bollworm, PectinopJiora gossi/piella, with some account of 

 the losses caused by this important pest of cotton. In 1911, it was 

 estimated that the annual loss in India due to this moth was £2,000,000. 



In a future paper it is intended to refer to the measures that have 

 recently been taken in the British West Indies to guard against the 

 introduction of the pest into the islands. 



The Black Weevil Borer of Bananas.— ^^'ric. News, Barbados, xvi,, 

 no. 405, 3rd November 1917, p. 347. 



With reference to the suggestion that sliced banana bulbs may be 

 used, as a trap for the banana weevil. Cosmopolites sordidus [see this 

 Review, Ser. A, v, p. 435], it is stated that such traps are now in use 

 m several locahties in Jamaica and in one place as many as 2 quarts 

 of weevils were collected by this means on an area of half an acre.. 



