THE LEPIDOPTERA 



245 



and harder than at and below the ground level, and fewer of the borers 

 are able to penetrate it to the cambium layer. 



Probably more kinds of materials have been tested for the control 

 of this insect than of any other, but it is still without an entirely satis- 

 factory treatment, though Paradichlorobenzine pulverized to the fineness 

 of coarse salt, has given fair success recently. The ground close to the 

 tree is somewhat loosened, an inch or two deep; the material is then 

 evenly sprinkled around the trunk in a band an inch or two wide; then 

 two or three shovels of earth are placed over it and compacted with 

 the back of the shovel. Three-fourths of an ounce to an ounce of the 

 material is enough for trees 6 to 15 years old. It is not entirely safe 

 for use with younger trees. The base of a tree treated thus, should be 

 uncovered a month or so later and left exposed for a day or two before 

 recovering with the earth. 



Fig. 241. — Squash-vine Borer {MeUitia satyriniformis Hbn.); a, male moth; h, female, 

 wings folded; c, eggs on a piece of squash stem; d, full-grown larva in squash stem; e, pupa; 

 /, pupal case, found in the ground. All one-third larger than natural size. {From U. S. 

 D. A. Farm. Bull. 856.) 



The Squash -vine Borer {Melittia satyriniformis Hbn.). — This pest is 

 also a native of the New World, and is found from Canada southward to 

 Brazil and west practically to the Rocky Mountains. It attacks the 

 squash, pumpkin and occasionally the gourd, melon and cucumber, but 

 does not usually, at least, infest the last two plants when the others are 

 at hand. The adult moth (Fig. 241 a and 6) is about the same size as, 

 but a little stouter than the Peach Borer. Its fore wings are a dark, 

 metalhc green, its hind wings transparent, its abdomen orange and black 

 and its hind legs heavily fringed with long, black, orange and a few white 

 hairs, making these legs look very large. It appears about the time the 

 plants are large enough for egg-laying and feeding upon — in April or 

 May in the South; in June in the Middle Atlantic States and in July in 

 New England — and lays its eggs at first near the base of the plant on the 



