70 COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 



Hies come out of the chrysalis in a further 10 to 14 days, it is evident 

 that a new generation of Earias is brought to life almost every 

 month from May to October, and one can easily conceive how quickly 

 this pest increases. Indeed, the insect may destroy a quarter of 

 the whole crop, and the second and third pickings suffer mostly 

 from its attacks ; so there is every reason of introducing early matur- 

 ing kinds of cotton. The young moth is also found on Hibiscus escu- 

 lentus and canabinus (Bahmia and Til), and for this reason one 

 ought not to allow these to be planted in the neighbourhood of 

 cotton fields. The moth of the boll-worm does not lay its eggs HI 

 close proximity to its place of birth, as is principally the case of the 

 cotton-worm ; the moth of the boll-worm flies long distances and 

 hibernates as a pupa in the cocoon which are affixed to the stems 

 of cotton, or hibiscus, where the first generation of the boll-worm 

 only finds a bare' living, and therefore it does not develop numer- 

 ously ; each further generation, there are six in the year, increases 

 in numbers in proportion to the increasing quantity of food in the 

 field, and towards the end of the season the bolls of cotton and 

 hibiscus are overrun by the caterpillars. 



The best means for destroying the boll-worm consists in the 

 destruction of all their food and protection of plants after the 

 termination of the cotton crop in order to starve out the next genera- 

 tion ; but when the stems of the cotton plant are stored on the roofs of 

 the neighbouring huts, as is usually the case, the cocoons can 

 develop quite well ; these cotton sticks are used up gradually tor 

 fuel. 



Besides the cotton and the boll-worm, damage is also done by 

 beetles and larvae of beetles, leaf lice, mole, crickets, and especially by 

 a small grey cotton bug. Oxycarenus hyalipennis, the last-named, 

 bores into the green capsules with its long 'trunk with the conse- 

 quence that many bolls fall off, and many become damaged. 



Leaf lice (Aphis sorghi) generally appear in August, cause the 

 falling off of the attacked leaf, and consequently weaken the plant. 

 Efforts are being made to overcome the evil by spraying the leaves 

 with chalk. 



Agrotis ypsilon, or the cut-cotton, is frequently dangerous to 

 growing shoots. 



A new enemy to the cotton bolls in Egypt is Gelichia gossy- 

 piella ; this has been described by Saunders in East India in 1843, 

 and was discovered recently in Egypt by Adolph Andres, one of the 

 two entomologists of the Khedivial Agricultural Society. This 

 caterpillar known by the name of pink boll-worm, feeds on 

 the seed kernels, and seems to raise only one generation in one 

 year. 



The boll-weevil, so much dreaded in United States of America, 

 is non-existent in Egypt. 



Locusts appear in Egypt from time to time; since 1891 they 

 have been found again for the first time in large quantities in 1904, 

 when they damaged the young cotton plants. Generally speaking, 

 they are, however, not serious, and are known to appear frequently 

 only at the Syrian frontier and in the neighbourhood of Ismalia and 

 Suez. 



