PKOCEEDINGS OF THE THIKD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 503 



district. This is one of the reasons why we suspect a seed-sucking 

 insect of damaging the germination. 



Law No. 29 of 1916, in addition to ordering the treatment of all 

 seed in the ginneries, regulated the storage of cotton-seed and seed- 

 cotton during the months May to August. During this period all 

 cotton-seed and seed-cotton must be kept in Ucensed stores. Licenses 

 for stores are only granted, after inspection, if the stores are properly 

 moth-proof. All windows must be screened with wire-gauze or cloth, 

 and the doors must be kept shut at night. This part of the law was 

 enforced only in 1916 ; it was found impossible to enforce it in 1917- 

 1918, on account of the shipping difficulty which it was anticipated 

 would enormously increase the quantities of cotton-seed kept in Egypt 

 during the summer. 



Prior to its apphcation the cotton merchants feared that the screens 

 would interfere unduly with ventilation, and that they would soon 

 get clogged with particles of fibre. Some of the stores were conse- 

 quently fitted with closable screens, which were left open all day and 

 shut at night. Other stores were fitted with permanent screens : from 

 inspection of such screens after the end of the season the fear that the 

 ventilation would be seriously interfered with appears to have been 

 unnecessary. 



Owing to the habits of the moth, as already mentioned earher, there 

 is no fear whatever that they may escape'through open doors or windows 

 during the day. 



In 1909, before the Pink Bollworm had become known as a pest 

 on cotton in Egypt, a law was passed prescribing the measures to be 

 taken against the Bollworm {Earias insulana). This law (No. 7 of 

 1909) prescribed the pulling up of all okroe and Hibiscus cannahinus 

 plants by the roots, and the pulling up of cotton or the cutting of its 

 roots in such a manner that it could not sprout again. If the existence 

 of non-uprooted plants of these three species between the 1st of January 

 and the end of March on lands where they had previously been grown 

 was noticed, the local authorities were to have them pulled up, the 

 cost of the procedure being recovered from the owner of the land by 

 the administrative channel. Exceptions were made for certain dis- 

 tricts in the North of Behera, Gharbia and Sharkia provinces, where 

 ratoon cotton was customarily grown. 



It was hoped by this law to restrict the damage done by Earias 

 by making a period of three months during which it could not find any 

 food-supply ; speaking from knowledge acquired later from experience, 

 the last date for pulling up the plants was much too late to be of much 

 use, without simultaneous destruction of the bolls, which was not ordered. 



