COTTON 415 



First Records of . insulana in Egyptian. Cotton Fields. 



In spite of the fact that the presence of boll worms in 

 a cotton field is much less conspicuous to the casual 

 observer than that of cotton worms, the former were 

 recorded as attacking cotton several years previous to 

 the latter. The credit of having first drawn attention to 

 the pest belongs to Joannovitch Bey, who studied the 

 habits of the insect from 1865 to 1872, and published a 

 record of his observations in a paper under the title of 

 " Description de 1'insecte ravageur du coton en Egypte " 

 (Bulletin de Vlnstitut Egypt., 1873). 



In 1871 a Commission was formed, to which Joan- 

 novitch Bey presented a report. The insect was sent for 

 identification to Boisduval, who described it as a new 

 species, which he placed in the genus Eriophaga, and 

 named Eriophaga, gossypiana. 2 Boisduval pointed out 

 in his description that the species was distinct from his 

 Tortrix immlana, 3 but later authorities do not agree that 

 this is the case, and the last specific name takes pre- 

 cedence, and has been adopted throughout scientific 

 literature dealing with the insect. 



Important though the boll worm is for consideration 

 in respect to cotton in Egypt, very little was written 

 concerning it during the subsequent thirty years, the 

 contribution by Innes Bey in 1884 (Bulletin du Comite 

 Agric., No. i, 1884), a report by Mr. Williamson Wallace, 

 presented to the Commission of 1895 (which does not 

 appear to have been included in the general report of the 

 Commission), and a communication by M. Dechevalerie 

 (Bulletin de Vlnstitut Egypt., May, 1898), comprising 

 nearly the whole literature with reference to it produced 

 during that period in Egypt. In 1905 Mr. F. C. Willcocks 

 contributed a very complete description, including all that 

 was known up to that time concerning the boll worm, and 

 from this work I have already given extracts. 4 In 1906 



2 See Bull, du Comite Agric., No. i, Avril, 1884, Ann. B., 

 p. 29, le Caire. 



3 Boisduval. Faun. Madag.j p. 121, pi. 16, fig. 9, 1833. 



4 Willcocks, F. C. Year-book of the Khediv. Agric. Soc. for 

 1905, PP. 57-Qi. 



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