4 



whole track becomes strewn with leaves from which the insects crawl 

 on to the adjacent standing cane, thereby steadily distributing and 

 increasing the infection. There is at least four months between the time 

 the first consignment of trash is conveyed to the factory and the 

 last field harvested, so that insects from the first consignment may 

 have up to four months in which to increase the infection on already 

 infected cane. 



Further, as the price of sugar rose during the war, the area under 

 cultivation increased and the cultivation became worse and worse : 

 poor quality " sets " were planted and no trouble was taken to remove 

 the leaf sheaths from the " sets " before planting. Cane was ratooned 

 four and five times and cane followed cane on the same land year 

 after year. No attempt was made to clean up the fields after the 

 harvest until quite recently, and this bad cultivation during the war 

 together with the removal of trash from the fields has undoubtedly 

 been largely responsible for the outbreak. 



(2) In comparing " Baladi " and " 105" cane one characteristic 

 was omitted ; the leaf sheaths of the former are not so closely adherent 

 to the parent cane as in the latter and the lower sheaths tend to come 

 away from the parent cane and break off clean at the node. The 

 insect therefore cannot get the same shelter as is afforded by the 

 closely adhering leaf sheaths of the " 105 " and consequently does 

 not find the " Baladi " cane quite such a congenial breeding ground. 

 For this reason the former variety does not become so heavily infec- 

 ted as the latter. 



It has already been pointed out that " 105 " cane was first intro- 

 duced in 1903, but it was not until 1909 that the Sugar Company 

 authorized the cultivators to plant out " 105 " cane. Permission was 

 first granted to introduce 25 per cent and this was later increased to a 

 maximum of 50 per cent. In spite of this limit the cultivators deve- 

 loped the variety to such an extent that, in 1915, 95 per cent of the cane 

 passed to the factories was "105." This gradual replacement of the 

 "Baladi" variety by the " 105, "whilst admittedly essential to save the 

 industry, has undoubtedly favoured the increase otPseudococcus sacchari 

 CKLL. 



The cultivation of " Baladi " cane for human consumption still 

 continues owing to its slightly higher sugar content, and the fact 

 that it is a finer cane. About 500 feddans per province are cultivated 

 for this purpose and the price obtained for the first year crop is such as 

 to more than counterbalance the lowered yield of the second year. 



DESCRIPTION AND HABITS OF THE INSECT. 



The adult female is large, elongated, ovate, decidedly plump, 

 and delicate pink in colour ; it is only very sparsely mealy and the 



