COTTON STEM WEEVIL 



103 



Remedies. The pest is easily checked if all the withered plants are 

 removed regularly and systematically. It is easy to see withered plants, 

 which can be collected and destroyed before the beetle escapes from 

 them. There is no other simple remedy. It 

 may be found possible to apply a dressing" to 

 the plants that will keep off the beetles and 

 prevent egg-laying, but the remedy above given 

 is so simple and thorough, if carried out from the 

 first, that there is no reason to spend money in 

 preventing the first brood from coming. It is 

 better to let it destroy a small number of plants 

 and then make sure of catching it in these 

 plants. Two parasites lay their eggs in the 

 grubs of this beetle in the cotton stem, which 

 check it to a slight extent. It is better not to 

 destroy these parasites if they are present in the 

 cotton stems, and this may be effected thus. 

 Place all the stems which are collected in a box 

 or barrel with the lid covered with thin cloth, securely tied down. The 

 beetles and parasites will hatch, the latter being flies easily distinguished 

 from the bronze beetles. The box can be examined periodically and the 

 parasites, if any hatch, allowed to escape. The beetles on hatching will 

 lie motionless in the box and will not attempt to escape if the cloth is 

 quickly lifted, whilst the parasites are active creatures which will fly 

 out of the box at the first opportunity. The parasites will then go 

 to the cotton fields and seek for grubs of the beetle in which to lay 

 their eggs. 



This insect is common in Gujarat, the Deccan, the Central 

 Provinces, and parts of the Punjab. It is rare in Behar and is apparently 

 not so universal a pest as the other insects that attack cotton, There 

 is no record of its occurrence outside India. 



FIG. 119. 



Stem Sorer Beetle. 

 (Magnified five times.) 



Cotton Stem Weevil. 1 



A small white grub found tunneling in the stem or branches of 

 certain races of cotton ; the grub is small, less than one quarter of an inch 

 long, distinct in appearance from the stem borer. 



This pest has been found only in Behar and has not been under 

 observation for any length of time. The small white grub feeds on the 

 tissue of the cotton stem, making twisted galleries which it fills with 



U42. (Curculioniche.) 



