532 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



dark toward the tips. The legs are long and slender, the hinder pair 

 measuring half of an inch in length. The suctorial beak is very long 

 (one-fourth inch), sharp and slender, and reaches back on the ventral 

 side to the base of the hinder pair of legs. (See the upper specimens 

 of Fig. 5.) 



The nymphs are much broader in proportion to length than are the 

 adults. The adults of these insects fly readily by day and are not 

 attracted to lamp traps at night. 



This common and well-known insect is the most destructive of the 

 pests infecting Cuburbits toward the middle and latter part of the 

 summer. It appears about the last of June and is found on the vines 

 or fruit until after frost comes. The first one found by us was on a 

 plant just about sprouted, on the 15th of June. They feed on all 

 Cucurbits, by sucking out the juice of the plant. According to the 

 habit of many other bugs, they inject a poisonous saliva into the 

 plant and this turns the "leaves dark in spots and causes them to 

 wither, crumple and soon turn brown. (Fig. 6.) 



They are social insects, living in groups under the crumpled leaves 

 and under or sometimes upon the large leaves that lie on the ground. 

 (Fig. 7.) The first mating occurs in the latter part of June and 

 the first eggs are_ deposited in the early part of July. The eggs are 

 large, oval and at first are white and adhesive. They gradually be- 

 come cream colored, reddish brown, and wine red; later they become 

 bronze red, and shortly before hatching are nearly black. They are 

 deposited in diagonal rows in irregular-shaped patches, generally be- 

 neath the leaves, but sometin)es above. (Fig. 8.) The distance be- 

 tween them is equal to one-half the width of the tip of the abdomen 

 of the female. They are very conspicuous and can readily be de- 

 tected for the remedies given below. The number in a patch varies 

 from a very few to over fifty. They hatch in from ten to sixteen 

 days, according to temperature, hatching sooner when the weather is 

 warmer. They are so plainly seen that they can readily be de- 

 stroyed. They adhere too firmly to be easily picked off, and we have 

 found that they can be painted with a touch of pitch and killed. 

 Painting with pure kerosene does not always prevent their hatching. 



The very young bugs are very brightly colored. Their bodies are 

 light green and their legs and antennje are bright red. Within an 

 hour the appendages turn dark and become black. The young bugs 

 live in groups (Fig 9) and moult several times. They finally obtain 

 wing pads and the next moult they have wings and are adult. After 

 the final moult they are .at first white, but in a few minutes become 

 dingy brown, then darker, and in a few hours grayish. Soon they 

 pair and the females afterwards lay from one hundred and fifty to 

 three hundred eggs. A second laying of eggs often ensues and thus 

 the second brood may appear. They have the same appearance ancj 



