196 A. D. PEACOCK — ENTOMOLOGICAL PESTS 



kerosene. Another alternative is for each collector to carry a net without a trap 

 and to take with him a tin of water and kerosene, into which the insects can 

 immediately be thrown. 



Trap Crops. It remains to be shown experimentally whether it would be of 

 practical utility to plant a crop of some species of Hibiscus or cotton which would 

 ripen earlier than the main crop and thus serve as a trap. If the stainers could 

 be successfully attracted to the trap crop, the numbers collected and killed might 

 have some appreciable effect in lessening the number on the cotton. 



It is suggested that the trap crop be planted two deep round the plot and 

 at sparse internals between the rows of cotton plants. It should be destroyed 

 immediately it has served its purpose, otherwise it might merely become an 

 additional breeding-ground for the pest. 



When and how often collecting should be done and the more general applica- 

 tion of methods to the needs of the Colony remain to be ascertained by future 

 work. 



General Measures. The following are sound practical working measures 

 adopted by Mr. Henderson, Superintendent of Agriculture, Ibadan : — 



(1) Gathering the cotton immediately it is ripe. 



(2) Sunning it well and constantly turning it over, which causes the stainers 



to crawl away, when they can be collected and killed ; the chances of 

 further staining in the ginning are also reduced. 



(3) Burning the old cotton stalks, which, if left, only harbour the pests. 

 These suggestions will only be of practical value if they are carried out 



wholesale and in a spirit of co-operation. Any campaign against the red cotton 

 stainer must not be in isolated skirmishes, but in persistent whole-line attacks. 

 It is a big problem for a new colony. 



These methods are impracticable for native cottons because of the height 

 (6 feet and over), woodiness and spread of the plants. But on the other hand, 

 the Ishan cotton examined at Illushi, Central Province, was much cleaner than 

 imported varieties. So one is driven to choose between foreign cottons care- 

 fully guarded from stainers and an improved native type. The latter, carefully 

 selected for wieldy size and increased lint-bearing qualities, will probably prove 

 the more satisfactory. Needless to say, a resistant indigenous cotton grown 

 from selected seed would be of greater value to the native grower, for he will not 

 trouble to combat the insect pests, but tolerates their presence in a fatalistic 

 spirit. 



Oxycarenus dudgeoni, Dist. (Plate XXV, fig. 3). 



The Black Cotton Stainer has been found at Ibadan, Western Province, and 

 Ugboha, Eastern Province ; it is therefore probably distributed throughout all 

 the Colony. 



The time of appearance during the cotton seasons 1911 and 1912 was found to 

 be slightly later than that of the Red Cotton Stainer. The earliest date of 

 finding them on cotton was 1st November. 



They feed and breed in the opened cotton bolls, sucking the juices from the 

 seeds. The sexes have been found paired from November at Ibadan, and in 

 April at Ugboha, 



