I'BOCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETIXG 445 



adopts such measures as lessen the incidence of the pest or reports the 

 matter to a Revenue authority or a member of the Agricultural Depart- 

 ment to secure some relief. In the case of Bollworms, the damage 

 done by them is felt either at the time of picking cotton or after the crop 

 has been picked. It is then that the shortage of outturn is ascribed to 

 the Bollworms. 



The distribution in India of the two species of Earias is very charac- 

 teristic. In the Punjab and Bombay Earias insulana preponderates 

 ■over Earias fabia, which outnumbers the former in Bihar and Orissa, 

 Bengal, Madras and the Central Provinces. This statement is made 

 under reserve and is liable to change with a fuller inquiry into the status 

 of the pests in all the important cotton-growing tracts in India. At 

 Pusa, Earias fabia is by far the commoner species, Earias insulana 

 being found more in Abutilon indicum than in cotton. In the United 

 Provinces E. fabia is found in greater numbers than E. insulana although 

 the real pest to cotton in these Provinces is Pkityedra (Gelechia) 

 ■gossypiella. In the North- West Frontier Province it is the Pink 

 bollworm which does more damage to cotton than Earias insulana. 

 In April 1913, Mr. Robertson-Brown, Agricultural Officer, North-West 

 Frontier Province, wrote as follows : — 



" In the North- West Frontier Province we find that the Pink Boll- 

 worm [Gelechia gossypiella) is very much more common 

 than Earias insulana. In fact we rarely find the larvae of 

 the latter in cotton-bolls. On the other hand, I have caught 

 quite twenty green moths of Earias insulana flitting around 

 my dining-room lamp during winter. We also find that the 

 larvse of Pink Bollworm are found in greater mimbers in 

 kapas when hand-ginning is being done in the villages. We 

 were of opinion that the Pink Bollworm was not so common 

 as Earias insulana. Will you very kindly say if Gelechia 

 is more common than Earias in any other part of India ? 

 Mr. Lefroy records that the Pink Bollworm hibernates chiefly 

 as a larva and that Earias hibernates more commonly as a 

 pupa and moth. That being so, it appears to us that the 

 Pink Bollworm would be more easily checked than Earias. 

 In 1910 we had a quarter of an acre of very perfect and 

 heavily, fruited bhindi as a trap-crop for bollworm, but we 

 did not trap very many larvae. Now that we have found 

 that the Pink Bollworm is our commonest pest, it is under- 

 stood why the bhindi was not much affected, as Mr. Lefroy 

 says Pink Bollworm does not affect the crops alhed to cotton 

 " (vide letter No. 665, dated the 22nd April 1913). 



