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78 10. 31, REVISED EDITION. 
f F 
ted States Department of Agriculture, 
DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY, 
L. O. HOWARD, Entomologist. 
THE STRIPED CUCUMBER BEETLE. 
(Diabrotica vittata Fab.) 
By F. H. CHITTENDEN, 
Entomologist in Charge of Breeding Experiments. 
GENERAL APPEARANCE AND NATURE OF ATTACK. 
Early in the season with the first appearance of cucumber, squash, 
and melon plants, often before they are above ground, they are attacked 
by a little yellow and black-striped insect, known as the _ striped 
cucumber beetle, “striped 
bug,’? “melon bug,’’ ete. 
The principal injury is ef- 
fected by the mature insects 
at this time, and is also 
caused later by the larvee 
feeding underground upon 
the roots and stems of the 
same plants. 
The beetle, illustrated at 
figure 1, a, is quite small, 
measuring about two-fifths 
of an inch in length and ats. 
= FIG. 1.—Diabrotica vittata: a, beetle; b, larva; ¢, pupa; 
half as much in width. Its d, egg; e, sculpture of same—a, b,c, much enlarged, 
color is yellow above, with Boe enlarged, e, highly magnified (author’s illus- 
black head and a_ black _ 
stripe running longitudinally on each side of each wing-cover, producing 
the effect of a three-striped back. The under surface is mostly black 
vy) 
and portions of the legs and antenns are also marked with black. 
The striped cucumber beetle is indigenous to this country and inhabits 
the entire eastern United States from the Canadian border to Mexico. 
It has been reported as injurious in all except a few States east of the 
Rocky Mountains and to occur in the State of Washington. 
The most apparent form of injury effected is through the first appear- 
ing or hibernating generation of beetles burrowing down to meet the 
plants before they show above ground and in feeding upon the tender 
plants before they have fairly started. The beetles are also destructive 
to older plants, by eating the leaves and especially by gnawing around 
and consuming the epidermis of the stems, and the larve are often the 
