EFFECTS PRODUCED BY PINK BOLLWORM ON THE YIELD OF COTTON SEED. 283 



Examination by us of some bales of Indian cotton imported by the Filature 

 Nationale of Alexandria in December 1914 showed by the presence of appreciable 

 numbers of pink bollworm the probable route by which Gelechia reached Egypt. 

 This led to an enquiry on the part of the Entomological Section with respect to the 

 period during which Indian cotton had been imported into Egypt, and of the quantities 

 introduced. The following table, which was presented to the International Tropical 

 Agricultural Congress in 1914 and later republished by Mr. Willcocks (loc. cit. p. 6), 

 was supplied to the Ministry of Agriculture by the Customs Administration. 



Table I. The Quantities of Indian Cotton imported into Egypt. 



Year. 



Quantity in 



Year. 



Quantity in 



kilograms. 



kilograms. 



Prior to 1903 



None 



1908 



21,460 



1903 



20,510 



1909 



31,206 



1904 



25,827 



1910 



13,353 



1905 



9,150 



1911 



None 



1906 



81,240 



1912 



10,998 



1907 



162,000 



1913 



90,012 



Indian cotton was required for spinning yarns suitable for muslin weaving, and 

 was specially desired on account of its white colour, which according to the Director 

 of the Filature Nationale was preferable for dyeing. These yarns were exported to 

 Turkey. 



Gelechia must consequently have been brought into the country between 1903 and 

 1910, if its introduction really took place in imported cotton in the manner suggested. 

 At this time unfortunately the importation of vegetable produce was not controlled 

 by Government. 



In this connection it might be remarked that the introduction might have come 

 over-land from Palestine, the intervening desert probably not being a sufficient 

 barrier. But there is no evidence at hand to show that Gelechia either existed or 

 did not exist at that date in Palestine. The capture of moths of this species at 

 Komani in the Sinai Peninsula might be mentioned in support of the possibility of 

 Gelechia crossing the desert ; but on the other hand very little cotton is or was grown 

 in Palestine, and examination of cotton seed obtained from Jaffa in 1917 shows 

 infestation varying from 4'0 per cent, to only 0"5 per cent. From this fact it might 

 be urged that the pink bollworm was of more recent introduction into Palestine 

 than into Egypt. 



At all events it may be accepted that prior to 1910 Gelechia gossypiella was not yet 

 known from Egypt, that it was still decidedly rare in 1911, and that it has since 

 become the major pest of cotton. Dudgeon (1907) and Willcocks (1910) do not 

 list Gelechia gossypiella amongst the cotton insects observed by them in Egypt. 



In 1910 and 1911 no importance was attached to the insect, which was merely 

 supposed to be a rare, indigenous species that might be a very minor cotton feeder, 

 as it appears to be in many places in India, and its extraordinarily rapid extension 

 could not then be anticipated. 



