NOTES ON AFRICAN COTTON INSECTS. 29 



found to do considerable harm to the cotton there. They are 

 small and very obscure beetles, which Jacoby has identified as 

 his Nisotra uniformis described from Sierra Leone. 



New Cottoii-stainers. — Three cotton-stainers that have not 

 previously been found on cotton have come from Uganda, one 

 being a new species recently described by Mr. Distant. These 

 insects, especially those of the genus Oxycarenus, are often to 

 be found abundantly in cotton bales. Opinions differ as to the 

 amount of damage they do. All agree that they spoil cotton by 

 being squashed in the gin and thus staining the fibre. They also 

 puncture the bolls and cause them to become hard so they cannot 

 open, and thus the cotton becomes matted and spoiled, and in 

 addition they stain the cotton with excreta when sucking the seed. 



Oxycarenus alhidipennis, Stal. — This bug is closely related to 

 the Egyptian cotton-stainer. It lives in the cotton boll after 

 opening, and attacks the cotton-seed. The larval stage is flesh- 

 or pink-coloured, with dusky head. The specimens were found 

 at Malindi, in Uganda, in February, and were sent me by the 

 Director of Agriculture, who reports that it causes discoloration 

 of the cotton. 



Oxycarenus exitiosus, Distant. — This small Lygfeid was sent 

 me by Mr. Linton, who found them in numbers in cotton bales 

 at Nairobi. It proved to be a new species, and was described by 

 Mr. Distant ('Entomologist,' July, 1900, p. 169, vol. xxxviii. 

 No. 506). It is a black species, with posterior lobe of the pro- 

 notum and corium testaceous, a dark spot at the posterior angle 

 of the latter ; the membrane pale hyaline grey ; the lateral 

 margins of the corium often distinctly lutescent ; abdomen san- 

 guineous beneath except the apex, and a central longitudinal line. 

 CoxiB, a central ring to the intermediate tibiae, and the posterior 

 tibia, except base and apex, yellowish. Length 3 to 4 millim. 



This insect has also been found in Cape Colony. Mr. 

 Distant was informed it was there injurious to peaches. The 

 habitat added by Distant is Cape Town, Seapoint, South Africa 

 (Mansell Weale). It probably works in the same way as the 

 related Egyptian species. 



Dysdercus nigrofasciatus, Stal. — This bug is present in large 

 numbers in all cotton-fields in Uganda, and has occurred in 

 bales of cotton also. It is one of the largest bugs found on 

 the cotton in Africa so far. It probably occurs on a number of 

 other plants, and may be found in many parts of Africa. It is 

 about 12 mm. long. Head chocolate-brown ; antennae dark 

 brown. The narrow anterior lobe of the pronotum rather pale 

 grey, mid lobe bright brown, the large posterior lobe pale 

 yellowish brown, almost ochreous. Corium pale ochreous, with 

 a broad black transverse bar on the posterior half ; membrane 

 black ; under wings dusky brown ; legs deep reddish brown. 

 Abdomen reddish above ; the first, second, and third segments 



