INSECTS INJURIOUS TO AGRICULTURE. 207 



eaten peas may be detected by placing the whole lot in water, 

 when the infested ones will float on the surface. The weevils in peas 

 may be killed by submitting the infested peas to the fumes of bisul- 

 phide of carbon in a closed vessel. 



The Bean-weevil (BruchusfdbcB Riley). This is a smaller 

 weevil than that of the pea, and injures beans in the same 

 manner, except that the beans are tenanted by several 

 weevils; it is, however, a more formidable pest than that of 

 the pea. 



The Squash-borer (Melittia cucurbit ce Harris). Squash- 

 vines are often killed by a borer in the stalk, a short, thick 

 caterpillar, whitish, with a dark head and horny patch just 

 behind it. It changes to a 

 beautiful, narrow-winged 

 orange-colored moth spot- 

 ted with black. The borer 

 lives in the vine until the 

 end of September, and pu- 

 pates either in the vine or 



ill the ground ; hence if FlG 2 51.-Squash-borer (a) and moth 



all the vines are collected 



and burned in the autumn, there will be less borers the 

 following season. Vines planted late are less injured than 

 early ones. 



The Striped Squash-beetle (Diabrotica vittata~Fsibi\). 



FIG. -'S'-i. Squash-beetle, a, grub; b, pupa. 



As soon as squash-, cucumber-, and melon-vines are up, the 

 young leaves are eaten by a small yellow-striped beetle, 

 whose larva is a long slender grub, which bores in the roots 

 in June and July. The eggs are deposited on the root, at 

 or just below the surface of the soil ; the larva becomes fully 



