304 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO THE MELON. 



vines, feeding on the pollen and other portions of the flower. 

 They have also been known to attack the blossoms of the pear 

 and cherry. 



Remedies. — The best remedy is to prevent the access of the 

 beetle by covering the young vines with small boxes, open at 

 the bottom and covered at the top with muslin. Sprinkling 

 the vines with a mixture of Paris-green and flour, in the 

 proportion of one part of the former to twenty parts of the 

 latter, air slaked lime, plaster of Paris, soot, and ashes, have 

 all been recommended and used with more or less advantage. 

 The larvae should also be searched for and destroyed; the 

 time to look for the first brood is when the vine is beginning 

 to run. If the stem close to the root, and the root itself, are 

 found smooth and Avhite, the plant is uninjured ; but if they 

 are roughened or corrugated on the surface, and of a rusty 

 color, the presence of the insect is indicated. 



A })arasitic two- winged fly, a species of Tachina, attacks 

 the beetles, depositing its eggs on their bodies, from which 

 hatch small fleshy grubs, which eat their way into the abdo- 

 men of their victims and eventually destroy them. 



ATTACKING THE LEAVES. 

 No. 223. — The Cucumber Flea-beetle. 



Crepidodera cucumeris (Harris). 



Although a very small insect, this is not to be despised. 

 It is a beetle, about one-sixteenth of an inch long, with a 

 black body, finely punctated, and clothed with a whitish 

 pubescence ; there is a deep transverse furrow across the 

 hinder part of the thorax; the antennte are of a dull-yellow 

 color, and the legs of the same hue, except the hinder ])air of 

 thighs, which are brown ; these latter are very thick and 

 strong, and well adapted for leaping. Fig. 376 represents 

 this insect much magnified ; the short line at the side indi- 



