DUSKY COTTON BUG. 107 



infested with this bug, the seed should be pickled in a mixture of 

 cow-dung, clay and water, and then thrown into water, when the sound 

 seed sinks, the worthless seed floating (see page 287). The red bugs are 

 infested with the maggots of a large TacUnid fly, which slowly destroy 

 their host and thus form a check on the increase of the bug. 



The insect is common throughout the plains, in the jungle and in the 

 fields. It hibernates in many parts of India where the temperature falls 

 considerably, and is found in hiding as an imago during the cold weather. 

 Where the climate is suitable it is active throughout the year. 



The Dusky Cotton Bug. 1 



This insect is well known as a pest to cotton in many parts of India. 

 Though small and insignificant in appearance, its 

 presence in great numbers in the open bolls of cotton 

 has brought it into notice. It has been reported as 

 sucking green bolls and injuring the lint and seed. 

 The insect is found upon the cotton plant, especially 

 in the bolls that open prematurely after they have 

 been eaten by the boll-worm. Large numbers of small 

 brown insects run out of such bolls when they are 

 handled and either fall to the ground or, if they are 

 full grown, fly away. FioTl26. 



The life history in the cotton boll is very simple. 2>usky Cotton Bug. 

 The eggs are laid in the lint close to the seed ; each 

 egg is cigar-shaped, about one mm. long (^th inch), 

 of a bright yellow colour, when first laid. They are laid in batches of 

 6 to 10 at a time, and egg-laying extends over some weeks. Before 

 hatching the egg turns a bright orange and the emerging insect is the 

 same colour. The newly-hatched insect is about T Vth inch long, with 

 three pairs of legs, the usual four- jointed antennae and an enormous 

 proboscis which stretches from the head to beyond the end of the tail. 

 With this it is able to pierce the cotton and extract food from within 

 the seed. During the next week it grows larger, shedding its skin at 

 short intervals to allow of expansion. The colour gradually alters to a 

 deep reddish brown, darkening at each moult. At the fourth moult 

 the wings appear as small growths on the upper side of the body. At 

 the fifth moult the wings are large but not fully developed, appearing 

 in their full size after the sixth moult when the insect is mature. The 

 perfect insect is nearly black, one-sixth of an inch in length, with the 



1 0. Ojcycw&mis lottus. Kirby. (Lygscidae.) 



