350 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO MELONS, CUCUMBERS, ETC. 



but this soon grows darker, so that the stage of their development 

 may be told by the color. In from six to fifteen days, depending 



upon the temperature, the 

 eggs hatch. The young 

 nymphs are brilliantly col- 

 ored, the antennae and legs 

 being bright crimson, the 

 head and anterior thorax a 

 lighter crimson, and the pos- 

 terior thorax and abdomen a 

 bright green, but in a little 

 while the crimson changes to 

 a jet black. The young bugs 

 remain near each other, suck- 

 ing the juices from the foli- 

 age and soon causing the 

 leaves to wither. During 

 their growth, which requires 

 four to five weeks, they 



FIG. 293. Eggs of the squash-bug en- moult some five times. The 

 larged. (Photo by R. I. Smith.) j u. i_ -A 



adult bugs appear in August, 



but in the North they neither mate nor lay eggs that season, but 

 feed until frosts blacken the leaves, when they disappear into winter 



FIG. 294. The squash-bug; a, ma- 

 ture female; 6, side view of head 

 showing beak; c, abdominal seg- 

 ments o male; d, same of female; 

 a, twice natural size: b t c. d, more 

 enlarged. (After Chittenden, U. S. 

 Dept. Agr.) 



FIG. 295. The squash-bug: adult at 

 left, and different stages of nymphs 

 about l*/2 times natural size. 

 (Photo by Quaintance.) 



