255 



into the fruiting head, in which the larva may remain during the mnter. 

 When first sprouting, the plants may be attacked by the cutworms, 

 Agrotis yjjsilon and Eiixoa spinifera. Control measures include early 

 threshing of the grain for the destruction of larvae of *S. cretica and 

 rolhng the groimd and mixing naphthahne with the seed at sowing 

 timxc for reducing the number of cutworms. Aphis sorghi causes 

 occasional local damage. Honey-dew is secreted by this Aphid which 

 favours the growth of a fungus. Two predaceous enemies of A. sorghi 

 occur in Egypt, namely, Chilomenes vicina, Muls., and Coccinella 

 undecimpundata, L. 



Dudgeon (G. C). Egyptian Agricultural Products. Arachis hypo- 

 gaea, Lin., the Ground Nut, or Earth Pea (Ffil Sudani in Egypt). — 



Ministry of Agric, Egypt, Cairo, no. 2a, 1915, 24 pp. [Received 

 1st May 1916.] 



Arachis hypogaea, the cultivation of which is described, has no very 

 serious insect or fungoid pests in Egypt. Prodenia litura (cotton 

 worm) may become abundant at intervals in Lower Egypt, and at 

 such times the crop is seriously damaged. A yellow Aphid occurs on 

 this plant in Fayuni and Wardan, especially in the latter district during 

 August, but infestation is not usually severe. 



Dealing with the Banana Borer in Jamaica. — Daily Gleaner, Kingston, 

 Jamaica, 21st March 1916, pp. 13-14. [Received 2nd May 1916.] 



At a meeting of the Jamaica Agricultural Society held to consider 

 the question of the banana weevil, the report of the special committee 

 appointed to investigate the problem was adopted. Cosmopolites 

 sordidus occurs in well-defined areas in Jamaica. The Director of 

 Agriculture considers the weevil to have been present in the island for 

 many years and to be wdely distributed, and further to be incapable 

 of becoming a serious menace to the banana industry. In his opinion 

 good cultivation should prevent attack, and he recommends the intro- 

 duction of a predatory beetle enemy from Java. The committee, on 

 the other hand, beheve that this pest is not indigenous to, or of long 

 standing in Jamaica and that the attack is so serious that immediate 

 action is required to check its spread. Injury is not confined to poor 

 or rotting bananas, but healthy trees of any age are attacked. The 

 rapid increase of this borer in Fiji is referred to. The committee 

 recommend that the Governor be appealed to, to adopt the following 

 measures : — (1) to declare C. sordidus a notifiable pest under the 

 Plants Protection Law ; (2) to request the Director of Agriculture to 

 furnish a list of plantations to which suckers have been sent from Hope 

 and Castleton Gardens, in order that immediate investigations may 

 be made ; (3) to declare all areas on which the weevil is found to be 

 infected. 



The special report of Mr. H. N. Ridley, directing the investigations 

 of the committee, gives an account of the distribution of the borer in 

 Jamaica ; this distribution negatives the theory of the Director of 

 Agriculture. The following suggestions are made for preventing the 

 spread of the weevil : — (1) Destruction of infested suckers ; (2) planting 

 of infested land with cane or bush for a few years ; (3) planting or 

 encouragement of bush between slightly infested or clean land 



