PROCEEDINGS OF THE THIRD ENTOMOLOGICAL MEETING 549 



Platyedra [PectincpJiora) goisypieUa, from generation to generation to 

 allow the parasites to breed and to send these if required either to the 

 Punjab or the North-West Frontier Province as the necessity arose. 

 Now that we have been growing cotton for the last 14 years, we have 

 come to the conclusion that the experiments are considerably hampered 

 by the presence of such insidious pests as : — 



Pseudococcus corymbatus, Green. 



Phenacoccus Jiirsutus, Green. 



Pseudococcus virgatus, Ckll. 



Machcerota planitice. 



Saissetia nigra. 



Eriophyes s^. {possibly gossypii). • '• 



Of these, the mealy-bugs have been especially troublesome, due nO' 

 doubt to our allowing the cotton crwp to remain on the ground 

 uninterruptedly throughout the year. As a part of our investigations 

 regarding the parasitization of the Bollworms, Earias fabia, E. insulana 

 and P. gossypiella, throughout the year, the plants have to remain on 

 the ground and as such the mealy-bugs have run their course uninter- 

 ruptedly with the result that during the present season the plants became 

 so heavily infested that in some varieties they were denuded of their 

 leaves and appeared white with the cretaceous white flocculent mass 

 of the female ovisacs especially of Pseudococcus corymbatus and Phena- 

 coccus Jiirsutus. On some plants the females congregated in such large 

 numbers that their ovisacs coalesced and the shoots, the branches and 

 the stems appeared white at a distance (see photograph). This white- 

 ness was very prominent on the affected plants until a week ago, but 

 now has been washed ofE by the recent rains. The curled topshoots 

 are still present on the plants (2nd February 1919) and in some varieties 

 there has been so much drain of the plant food that the plants have 

 become gnarled and stunted with hard compact top-shoots and a 

 minimum of leafage on them. Such plants have failed to put forth 

 flowers and bolls and in consequence we got very few bolls this 

 season to continue our weekly cotton countings for the bollworms 

 and their parasites. Of these mealy-bugs Pseudococcus corymbatus 

 and Phenacoccus hirsutus are the worst. Both appear together on the 

 cotton top-shoots and one who has not worked at them closely will 

 find ' it dijB&cult, if not impossible, to differentiate the species. But 

 with practice the task becomes fairly easy. The females and eggs of 

 Pseudococcus corymbatus are dark castaneous, whilst those of Phena- 

 coccus hirsutus are bright pink. The former has been found by me 

 to occur on cotton and soy bean at Pusa, the latter has been found on 

 Morus spp. and cotton. Pseudococcus virgatus (Plate 94, fig. 1) occurs 



