422 COTTON 



bolls by exposure to the sun's heat, but to accelerate 

 maturity of the bolls themselves. In Egypt the experi- 

 ment of defoliation has yet to be made, and could be 

 done by hand without injury to the plants. 



A member of the Commission drew, attention to the 

 fact that, as it was stated that the terminal shoots of 

 cotton plants were attacked by boll worms before the 

 buds and bolls were produced, an addition might be made 

 to the existing law to compel the picking of infested 

 shoots at the time when the people were employed in 

 the fields for the collection and destruction of the eggs 

 of cotton worm (Prodenia litura, Fabr.). To add such 

 clauses to a law which is promulgated to deal with the 

 ravages of cotton worm only would but create a con- 

 fusion, but a clause was inserted in the instructions given 

 to cotton worm inspectors to draw attention to the fact 

 that the wilted and withered terminal shoots on cotton 

 plants would be found to contain 'boll worms and to 

 direct that these should be picked and destroyed together 

 with the leaves which contained cotton worms or the 

 egg masses. 



When buds have been attacked by the pest and have 

 become detached from the plant due to the suppression 

 of their vital connection with the stem which bore them, 

 the boll worm usually leaves the fallen bud to search 

 for a fresh one. During this time the larva exposes 

 itself to the greatest peril, being a ready prey to carni- 

 vorous beetles (Carabidas) and to the intestine infesting 

 larvae of the Ichneumonidae and Braconidae, the adults of 

 which hover about cotton plants and patrol leaves, buds 

 and bolls in search of the boll worms, in whose bodies 

 they deposit their eggs. A short account of these para- 

 sites is given in another part of this paper. 



Some of the Braconidae, among which the most im- 

 portant one found in India destructive to the Earias 

 boll worm is Rhogas Lefroyi, Dudgeon and Gough, were 

 introduced into Egypt in 1912 by the Egyptian Govern- 

 ment. Great difficulty was experienced in transporting 

 the parasite mentioned from Bengal to Egypt in a living 

 condition, and just when success had been attained in this 

 direction the value of the introduction was depreciated 

 by the discovery of a nearly allied indigenous Braconid, 



