THE SQUASH-VINE BORER. $ 
the larger veins, into which they bore when the eggs have been placed 
in such locations, and often attack the fruit. They also penetrate 
gourds so hard that it is difficult to cut into them with a sharp knife. 
Larve have been observed on the wild balsam apple,t which is 
probably a natural food plant. 
Injury is greatest to Hubbard, marrow cymlings, and other late 
varieties of squash, and is apt to be more acutely felt in small gardens 
than where crops are grown for market. Even if the plant survives 
attack it may not bear fruit, and often the grower loses a large pro- 
portion of his crop year after year. Not infrequently entire crops 
are destroyed, and still more frequently every plant in a field is 
attacked freely. 
NATURAL HISTORY. 
This species is injurious only in the larval form. Although the 
larve are familiar objects to squash growers, the moths are not gen- 
erally recognized as the parents of these pernicious borers. 
The moths, unlike most others, fly only during the daytime and 
in the heat of the day. Toward twilight they become less active 
and may be seen sitting quietly on the leaves of their host plants. 
Both when in flight and when at rest the moths are singularly wasp- 
like in appearance. 
TIME OF APPEARANCE OF THE MOTH. 
Approximately it may be stated that the moth appears as soon 
as the vines are sufficiently advanced to serve for oviposition and 
the subsequent subsistence of the borer larve within their stems. 
Indications are that as far south as the District of Columbia the 
moths make their first appearance in the field some time in May, 
"or, at least, early in June, as larvee nearly matured have been found by 
the middle of July. In New Jersey, according to Dr. J. B. Smith, 
the moths are abroad at or soon after the beginning of June; on 
Long Island, from the middle to the last of June. In Massachusetts, 
according to Harris, they appear about the plants the second week 
in July. We thus have considerable variation in time of earliest 
appearance, dependent upon season and locality—a variation to be 
expected in a species of so wide a range. 
THE EGG AND OVIPOSITION. 
The eggs, which are oval and dull red in color, are laid upon all 
parts of a plant, from the roots to the buds and petioles, but chiefly 
along the stems, although in some varieties of squash, it is said, nearer 
the base of the stem than otherwise. Oviposition is very rapid, the 
moth flitting from hill to hill, leaving an egg in each. A single moth 
may lay as many as 212 eggs. The eggs hatch in from six to fifteen 
days after they are deposited, and the larve are said to attain full 
1 Echinocystis lobata. 
