27 
Its Injuries.—The larve begin by eating the leaves, and the diet of 
the first brood of worms must consist almost exclusively of phyllopha. 
gous food. It is only as the melons begin to mature that the worms 
boreinto them; for comparatively few green melons were found affected. 
Of the large melons examined, from four to six worms were taken 
from each, and in every case where this happened the melon had reached 
its full growth and was undergoing the process of ripening. 
This worm does not always bore directly into the interior of the fruit, 
sometimes confining itself to the outer rind or boring irregular galleries 
just beneath it; when it attacks the inner or fleshy portions it is most 
destructive, excavating long galleries filled with its soft excrements, in 
which the worm wallows and crawls backward and forward, and the 
fruit then soon sours and decays. 
Parasites.—Two parasites were reported on the worm in the Agricul- 
tural Report for 1879. An Ichneumonid fly (Pimpla conquisitor Say), and 
a Tachina fly are represented in Plate III, Fig. 6, of said report. No 
parasites were bred from it by me, the majority of the pup in my breed- 
ing boxes having been destroyed by a small red ant. 
Remedy.—See Squash Borer. 
THE MELON PLANT-LOUSE 
(Aphis citrulli Ashmead.)* 
My first acquaintance with this plant-louse was made while on an 
entomological tour to extreme South Florida in April, 1880, on Meta- 
combie Key, where it had completely devastated the melon patch of 
a Mr. Sands. 
Mr. S., who was a native of the Bahamas, termed the disease 
‘*Curled Leaf,” and was not aware it was caused by an insect, until I 
convinced him of that fact by showing him the insects through my 
pocket lens. 
Distribution.—At times the species is very injurious to melon vines in 
Florida, Georgia, and places in the West. Prof. S. A. Forbes treats of 
this same insect under the name of ‘ the Melon Plant-louse,” (Aphis cu- 
cumeris n. sp.), in the Twelfth Report of the State Entomologist of 
Ulinois, page 83. It was first briefly described by the writer in the 
Florida Dispatch, New Series, Vol. 1, page 241, July 7, 1882, more than 
a year previous to the description by Professor Forves.t 
Food Plants.—Its attacks are confined generally to the watermelon 
vines, although occasionally found on Squash and other Cucurbitacee. 
In the West its habits seem to be similar. Dr. Cyrus Thomas, in 
* Synonym, Aphis cucumeris Forbes, Il]. Insect Rep., XII, p. 83. 
t Mr. Ashmead disregards the well-known rules of zoological nomenclature in insist- 
ing upon the priority of his A. citrulli, as a name attached to a description published 
simply in the Florida Dispatch cannot hold. This species should be known as 4. 
cucumeris Forbes.—C. V. R. 
