COTTON 391 



the web, or perhaps with an instinct to make the cocoon 

 less visible. Some blotting paper in the moist chamber 

 was utilized by two larvae, being reduced first to fluff and 

 then incorporated in the web. Another larva, kept in a 

 corked (dry) tube, made cork dust serve, biting up the 

 cork to produce the dust. Another, which had access to 

 cotton-wool, utilized cotton fibre. One larva, which by 

 accident had entered a narrow glass tube, simply spun a 

 transverse web on either side of itself, closing up the 

 tube in both directions with a tight, flat, circular 

 membrane. 



In winter hibernating larvae may be looked for wherever 

 cotton seed is to be found. Probably the majority will 

 be found in seed that has been ginned and stored. Some 

 seed we were using for experimental purposes was 

 infested to the extent of one worm to every ten seeds, 

 and at least 30 to 40 per cent, of the seeds were damaged, 

 but this was an exceptionally bad sample. After the last 

 picking a large number of immature bolls remain on the 

 cotton sticks; these bolls are invariably infested. The 

 cotton sticks are uprooted and stored in the villages for 

 fuel, and the capsules adhering to them form an important 

 reservoir for the insect to pass the winter in. As diseased 

 bolls readily fall to the ground, large numbers of worms 

 can be found hibernating in bolls lying on the ground. 

 Bolls collected on the ground in January were found to 

 contain a number of living worms, and still more dead 

 ones. 



It is impossible to make a reliable estimate of the 

 amount of damage done by the pink boll worm, or even 

 to give figures to show the proportion of damage done 

 by Gelechia and Earias respectively. 



What figures are available to show the relative amount 

 of damage done in 1911, 1912, and 1913 by Gelechia all 

 trend in the same way. In localities where any damage 

 was done in 1911, great damage followed in 1912, and 

 much less damage was observed in 1913. Of course, for 

 very many localities no figures exist for 1911 or 1912, 

 although extensive damage has been reported from them 

 in 1913. It is hoped, and seems probable, that in these 

 cases also the maximum of damage has already been 



