INJURIOUS TO CUCUMBER, SQUASH AND MELON 123 



and stouter and the band aeross the front wings is represented 

 by two small whitish spots. The wild food plants of the inseet 

 have not been aceurately determined. The bugs often punc- 

 ture the fruit of peach, plum, cherry, pear, tomato and cucum- 

 ber and sometimes attack cotton bolls. They also feed on 

 the stems of cucumber, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon and 

 tomato, causing the vines to wilt and die. 



The insect hibernates in the adult stage but the bugs do not 

 appear in the field until late in the season, about the first of 

 July at Washington. The egg is bronze-brown, about yV i^^ch 

 in length, cylindrical and flattened at each end. The eggs are 

 laid end to end in rod-like rows of six to twenty-six, attached 

 to the stems or along the veins of the leaves. The eggs hatch 

 in about a week and the young nymph leaves the egg-shell by 

 forcing out a circular lid on the side near the end of the egg. 

 The newly hatched nymph is coral-red in color with the legs 

 nearly black. The basal half of the antennae is black and the 

 outer half red. The insect passes through five nymphal 

 stages and becomes adult in twenty-five days to about a month 

 after hatching. There is only one generation annually so far 

 as known. 



Control. 



The nymphs can be killed w^ith ''Black Leaf 40" tobacco 

 extract, 1 part in 500 parts of water to which enough soap has 

 been added to make a suds. Kerosene emulsion and strong 

 soap solutions have also been suggested for the control of this 

 pest. In the garden the adults may be hand-picked in 

 the cool of the morning while they are sluggish. 



References 



U. S. Div. Ent. Bull. 8.3, pp. 18-25. 1902. 



Forbes, 28rd Roi^t. State p]nt. 111., pp. 1<)7-10.S. 1905. 



