(^HAPTER V 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CUCUMBER, SQUASH AND 



MELON 



Cucurbits are subject to attack by a large number of insects, 

 the most important of which are : the cucumber beetles, the 

 squash bugs, the squash-vine borer, the pickle worm, the 

 melon worm and the melon aphis. Cutworms and flea-beetles 

 also occasionally cause serious loss. The watermelon is singu- 

 larly free from insect enemies but is sometimes seriously in- 

 fected by the melon aphis. 



The Striped Cucumber Beetle 



Diahrotica vittata Fabricius 



This small, yellow, black-striped beetle is one of the most 

 serious enemies of the cucumber, squash, melon and related 

 plants. It is a native of America and is to be found in this 

 country wherever its food plants are grown except in the far 

 West. The greatest injury is to the young plants soon after 

 they come up, by the beetles that have just emerged from 

 hibernation ; the larvse also burrow in the stem both above 

 and below the ground and often feed on the underside of the 

 fruit when it lies on the soil ; the beetles sometimes destroy 

 the flow^ers by eating off the pistils and the new brood of beetles 

 in late summer causes considerable injury to ripening fruit by 

 gnawing holes in the rind. 



109 



