66 SECOND ANNUAL REPORT OF 



show however, how the different broods run into one another, and to 

 prove how difficult it is to separate them by distinct lines, I will state 

 that at Kirk wood, Mo., I found this insect abundant in its three stages 

 of larva, pupa, and beetle, during the first days of October last. And 

 in a large jar partly filled with earth, in which I placed a number of 

 infested roots about that time, I to-day (Nov. 8, 1869) find both pupa? 

 and beetles. The soil in this jar was kept as nearly as possible in the 

 same condition as that out ot doors, and as I noticed the beetles 

 around the vines even after the first frosts, I am led to infer that, in 

 this latitude at least, the insect often hybernates as a beetle, and not 

 always as a pupa, as intimated by Dr. Shimer. 



Of all the multifarious remedies proposed against the attacks of 

 this insect, there are none so effectual or so cheap in the end, as in- 

 closing the young vines in boxes which are open at the bottom, and 

 covered with millinet on the top. Such boxes are made at a trivial 

 cost, and if properly stored away each season after use, will last for 

 many j^ears. Whenever other remedies must from necessity be 

 resorted to, there is nothing better than sprinkling the vines, 

 early in the morning with Paris-green and flour, (one part of the 

 green to four or five of flour) or with white hellebore. It of course 

 follows, that if the beetles are effectually kept off, there will after- 

 wards be no worms at the roots. 



Much complaint was made last summer, in various parts of the 

 country, of the sudden death of cucurbitaceous vines, from some un- 

 known cause, and Henry Ward Beecher seems to have suffered in 

 this manner, like the rest of us, but could find no worms in the roots 

 of his vines. I know from experience that such vines are subject to 

 a species of rot in the root — a rot not caused by insects, and for that 

 reason the more serious, since we cannot tell how to preventit. I have 

 seen whole melon patches destroyed by this rotting of the roots, but 

 in the great majority of instances where I have examined vines that 

 had died from " some unknown cause," I have had no difficulty in either 

 finding the worms of the "Striped Bug" yet at work on the roots, or 

 else the unmistakable marks of their having been there. Indeed, by 

 the time a vine dies from the effects of their gnawings and burrow- 

 ings, the worms have generally become fully grown, and have hidden 

 themselves in their little pupal cavities. 



So much for the two borers which have heretofore been known to 

 attack plants belonging to the Gourd family. We have seen how they 

 both bore into the roots of these plants, and how one of them in the 

 perfect state attacks the leaves. No other borers have been known 

 to attack these plants, though the 12-Spotted Diabrotica (D. 12-punc- 

 [Fig.42] tato., Fig. 42), may often be found embedded in the rind of 

 both melons, cucumbers and squashes. But we now come to 

 a third insect which attacks plants of this same Gourd fam- 

 ^ejj!}^- ily. It neither bores into the root, nor devours the foliage, 

 * however, but seems to confine itself to the fruit; and I have 



