COTTON IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN. 71 



Plant pests are of no great importance in Egypt, with the excep- 

 tion of a fungus which attacks and destroys occasionally the new 

 germinating seed, so that new seed have to be put into the ground. 

 The ''wilt" disease, which is so much feared in U.S.A., and con- 

 sists in the fungus disease of the roots, has been observed in Egypt 

 in 1903, where it caused only slight damage, as the Egyptian cotton 

 varieties appear to be more resisting to this disease. The " Krausel 

 krankheit " (literally curling disease), which is so serious in East 

 Africa, is unknown in Egypt. 



The various artificial means tried so far in Egypt for combating 

 the cotton pests have mostly failed in actual experience, as they have 

 not been sufficiently reliable and cheap, and often have been injurious 

 to men and cattle. 



Trials were made with a few strong lamps, the light of which 

 attracted the butterflies, and these were imprisoned in a sweet sticky 

 liquid ; only a proportionately small quantity of insects were thus 

 caught. 



Later on, it appeared as if the insect trap invented in 1910 by 

 Adolp Andres and George Maire would be successful, as it was 

 intended to catch the moths of cotton-worm, boll-worm, and cut- 

 worm ; the apparatus consisted of a square box about 1|- m. 

 in height, the walls of which are covered in a special way with a 

 fine wire cloth ; in the interior are several strips of sackcloth which 

 have been steeped in fermenting alcoholic liquid, the so-called 

 Prodenin ; this liquid has the property to attract by its singular smell 

 the moth from long distances. The moth of the cotton-worm 

 which fly a few hours before midnight, enter through a narrow 

 opening into the box, and remain throughout the night on the 

 canvas strips. At daybreak, when they wish to hide themselves, 

 they cannot find the exit and fall in an intoxicated state into a basin 

 of water and petroleum ; in this manner thousands of these insects 

 have been caught, more moths of the cotton-worm than of the boll- 

 worm. But on the whole this trap has had little effect on the total 

 quantity, and on further examination the surprising fact was found 

 that as many as 97 per cent, of the female moths caught had previ- 

 ously deposited their eggs, already therefore Andres' trap, which had 

 the advantage of being cheap, is not in much use now ; it might be 

 in connection with the cotton-worm. 



The introduction of Rogus Lefroyi, a parasite of the cottorv 

 worm, which has been successful in British India and other places 

 in combating these insects, is at present being tried in Egypt, but 

 Willcocks, the chief entomologist of the Khedivial Society, is some- 

 what sceptical about the influence of these parasites, as their effect 

 is generally felt too late, only after the eggs have been laid. 



Willcocks is also sceptical as to another new process ; the two 

 Greeks, Manolato and Arghiridis, made the observation that Spanish 

 pepper, which they had planted round the cotton fields, kept at a 

 distance the cotton-worm and the boll-worm. The medical man, 

 Dr. Berard, a Belgian, residing in Alexandria, added a few poison- 

 ous plants, such as Atropa belladona and Hyoscyamus, and also the 

 Pyrethrum, which must be sown together with the cotton, and in 

 between the plants ; the experiments made during three seasons in 

 this manner on areas varying from one-quarter to two feddans have 



