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Research on Lepidopterous stem borers of Nigerian cereals began in 1951. Preliminary surveys finished in 1954 and from 1955 to 1961 the author studied these pests in Northern and Western Nigeria. Guineacorn ( Sorghum vulgare ) and millet ( Pennisetum typhoides ) are the most important cereal crops in Northern Nigeria, and maize ( Zea mays ) is the only cereal of any importance in Western Nigeria. The crops are sown early in the wet season, which alternates with a dry season of two to seven months, and mature in three to five months. They are cultivated by hand and few farmers grow more than one acre of any one cereal. The host ranges of all the known species of Nigerian cereal stem borers ( viz ., Busseola fusca (Fuller), Sesamia calamistis Hmps., S. penniseti Tams to reduce populations of diapause larvae. Insecticidal control has as yet shown little promise and plant breeding for resistance has not begun. The necessity for further work to confirm the general conclusions drawn here is stressed and possible lines of investigation are indicated.
K. M. Harris (Tue,) studied this question.