PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 443 



started. No doubt, the measure is not much appreciated by the local 

 people who are either loath to buy the cloth required for the bags or 

 are unable to contribute labour necessary to work the bags. But in 

 the long run, if the unexpected happens, it is possible that they will take 

 to the measure to escape the loss caused by the hoppers. 



4. To set up light-traps during July-August when there are only 

 a few hoppers and again at the end of September when they reach their 

 maximum developments. The local people do not like the idea of going 

 to their fields at night and putting up the lanterns. They are mortally 

 afraid of vermin which in some parts are very common. But the appoint- 

 ment of a few specially trained men to take charge of two or three villages 

 at a time was found to work well, and the local cultivators were willing 

 to pay for the extra cost of maintaining a Kamdar. 



17.— COTTON BOLLWORMS IN INDIA. 



Bij T. Bainbrigge Fletcher, R.N., F.L.S., F.E.S., F.Z.S., Imperial 

 Entomologist, and C. S. Misra, B.A., First Assistant to the Imperial 

 Entomologist. 



The name " Bollworm " is applied in India to two distinct groups 

 of moths whose larvae bore into cotton-bolls. Firstly it covers two 

 Noctuid moths of the genus Earias, E. fabia and E. insulana, and 

 secondly it includes the Gelechiad, Platyedra (Gelechia) gossypiella, com- 

 monly called the " Pink Bollworm " on account of the salmon-pink 

 colour of the larva in its later stages. These Bollworms, and especially 

 the two species of Earias, have been under close observation at Pusa 

 for many years past and in this paper we propose to record a few of the 

 conclusions at which we have arrived, without going into full details 

 on every point. 



- Prior to 1903, Bollworms were known to affect cotton, but they 

 were not considered so serious as is now realized to be the case. It was- 

 in 1905, with the failure of the cotton crOp in the Punjab and in 1906 in 

 Sind, that they (and E. insulana in particular) came into prominence. 

 In 1905, a very serious cold snap occurred during the winter in the 

 Punjab, and it was presumed that the parasites which normally kept 

 the bollworms in check had been affected adversely, the result being a 

 failure of the crop over a greater part of the Province.' In 1911 also the 

 loss to cotton in the Punjab was much greater than in normal y(!ars. 

 Since 1911 there has been no serious outbreak but it is certain that the 

 total loss brought about by these insects annually is very great. Thfr 



