MINOR COTTON PESTS. 113 



caterpillar l is found in abundance on cotton throughout the rains if other 

 crops fail it, and this applies also to the Hairy Caterpillar of Gujarat. 2 



The very common Red Leaf Beetle 3 is found on cotton but does no 

 harm. The Cotton Mealy Bug is a peculiar species which is found on the 

 top of the shoot; the shoot swells and twists, forming a hard gall-like 

 mass and stunting the growth of the plant. Only some varieties of 

 indigenous cottons are affected and the pest is not widely spread. It 

 requires to be destroyed by picking the twisted shoots, or by spraying, as 

 it interferes with the normal growth of the plant. 



The large spotted grasshopper 4 is one of the few grasshoppers that 

 is commonly found feeding on this plant. Germinating cotton suffers 

 from the ground grasshoppers and weevils which attack germinating 

 seeds as they push leaves above the ground (see page 220). The ryot sows 

 his cotton so thickly that no damage is done as a rule, but tree cottons 

 and other cottons sown far apart will be eaten if the field is very clean. 

 It is advisable to sow some such crop as maize between the cotton or to 

 leave the final weeding till the cotton has formed two leaves, as the insect 

 then has other food and spares the cotton. 



1 136. Diacrisia obliqua. Wlk. (Arctiidae.) 



2 220. Amsacta lactinea. Cr. (Arctiidae.) 



3 11. Aulacophorafoveicollis. Kust. (Chrysoinelida\) 



4 49. Acridium wruginosum. Burra. (Acridiidse.) 



