PINK BOLL-WORM. 



93 



moths to breed caterpillars which attack the cotton in August and 

 September. Experiments are in progress to use bhindi as a trap crop in 

 or around cotton, in the hope of collecting the insects in that crop which 

 can then be destroyed. The success obtained during the past season 

 justifies the more extended trial of this measure. 



The Pink Boll=worm. 



Associated with tlie spotted boll-worms is a slender reddish caterpillar 



found feeding in the 

 green or ripe bolls. 

 It is easily distin- 

 guished from the 

 other caterpillars 



found on cotton. 



The moth lays a 

 number of small flat- 

 tened eggs, similar to 

 those laid by the 

 majority of small 

 moths ; the eggs are 

 deposited singly on 

 leaves, stalks and 

 bolls, and hatch in a 

 few days. 



The young cater- 

 pillar is white, with 

 a dark head, and is 

 found feeding on the leaves or on the outside of the boll. It does not 

 immediately attack the boll but bores in through the rind when it has fed 

 for a few days outside. 



Like the spotted boll-worms this one feeds upon the oily seeds, eating 

 seed after seed until it has become full grown. As a rule one will be 

 found in a boll but exceptionally several attack the same boll. The full 

 grown larva is of a white colour, with bright pink spots, more slender 

 than the spotted boll-worms and without processes. The larval life varies 

 in duration according to the season but occupies two to three weeks in the 

 active period. The full grown larva forms a slight cocoon of silk, in the 

 boll or on the bracts or leaves of the cotton. In unirrigated black cotton 

 soil this may be found in a crack of the dry soil. The shortest period for 



1 74, Gelechia ffossypiella, Saupd. (Tineidse.) 



FIG. 104. 

 Pink Soil-worm. (Magnified.) 



