PROBLEMS CONNECTED WITH THE NEW EGYPTIAN 

 COTTON PEST, GELECHIA GOSSYPIELLA SAUNDERS, 

 THE PINK BOLL WORM. 



By L. H. GOUGH, Ph.D., F.E.S. 



Chief, Entomological Section, Ministry of Agriculture, 



Egypt. 



CONSIDERABLE evidence can be brought forward to 

 support the theory that the pink boll worm has been 

 introduced into Egypt within the last ten years, and that 

 it came from India. There are no records available for 

 Gelechia gossypiella Saunders from Egypt prior to the 

 autumn of 1910. A few specimens were taken by Mr. 

 F. Willcocks, Entomologist to the Khedivial Agricultural 

 Society, in October of that year. Mr. Andres claims 

 also to have taken specimens at Alexandria in 1910. In 

 October, 1911, a few were bred out from cotton bolls 

 collected at Fua by myself. These were identified by Mr. 

 Dudgeon, and were then considered by us to be the first 

 specimens recorded from Egypt, neither Mr. Willcocks's 

 nor Mr. Andres's records having been published at that 

 time. Specimens were also taken by Mr. Willcocks in 

 1911. The insect was, however, still decidedly rare. At 

 the end of March, 1912, some pupae of Gelechia were 

 brought to me by Mr. Pappis from Damanhur, having 

 been found by him in cotton seed. A few specimens were 

 bred out of pomegranates in July, 1912. 



The pink boll worm was not, however, found doing 

 any damage until the autumn of 1912, when it appeared 

 in enormous quantities at Abu Qeer Estate, near Alexan- 

 dria, and in considerable numbers everywhere in the 

 Delta. 



The first parasites of Gelechia found in Egypt were 

 reared in the autumn of 1912. I bred out one Chelonella 

 sulcata Nees, and Mr. Willcocks recorded Pimpla 

 roborator Fabr. from his breeding cages. I also found 

 a Pimpla larva in direct connection with a pink boll worm. 



