Role of Insects in the Distribution of Cotton Wilt Caused by Fusarium Vasinfectum '

The methods of spread of cotton wilt caused by Fusarium vasin» fectum Atk. have received considerable attention from investigators. It has long been suspected that insects frequently play a part in the local spread of cotton wilt. During 1933 and 1934 the writers sought to obtain definite information on the possibility of spread of wilt through the fecal pellets of insects that normally feed on the different parts of cotton plants known to be infected with fusarium wilt. Some attention was also given to spread of F. vasinfectum as adhering spores on the exterior parts of the body of cotton insects. The laboratory studies here reported were made at College Station, Tex. The field data were obtained in cotton fields near College Station, Beaumont, and Caldwell, Tex. Brief reports on this work appeared in 1933 and 1934.^ METHODS AND MATERIALS