718 



THE FARMERS HANDBOOK. 



cleaned up and burnt with any other rubbish on the ground, the hibernat- 

 ing beetles and their eggs will be destroyed, and if the soil is turned over 

 early in the season and thoroughly disturbed, most of the delicate larvae and 

 pupae in the soil will also be killed. Nor should pumpkins or melons or 

 related plants be grown on the same soil in successive years. 



Clean cultivation and rotation are thus as important in relation to the 

 pests of these crops as any other. 



Leaf-eating Ladybird (Epilachna 28-punctata). 



Much the same damage as that wrought by the Banded Pumpkin Beetle 

 is done by the 28-spotted Ladybird (Epilachna '2H-pnnctata). The greater 

 part of the damage is done during the larval stage of the insect. Large 

 patches are to be found eaten away on one surface or the other of the 

 leaves. The surface only, however, of the leaf is eaten and the epidermis 

 of the side opposite to the one on which the insect is feeding is left intact. 



The eggs, which are pale yellow colour, are laid side by side in patches 

 on the surface of the food plant. The larva? when hatched are very small, 

 but grow quickly until full grown, when they are about half an inch in length. 

 The mature larvse are yellow, robust grubs, thickly ornamented with branched 



The 28-spotted Ladybird (Epilachna 

 28-punctata) 



Portion of a Pumpkin Leaf, showing ravages of 



Epilachna 2S-punctata. 



black spines and light-brown patches on the upper surface of the body. 

 When full grown they congregate in masses on the leaves of the food plant, 

 affix themselves side by side with a sticky secretion, and pupate. 



The adult insect or beetle is ovate and strongly convex in shape, orange- 

 yellow in color, and is punctated with large black spots, generally believed to 

 be twenty-eight in number, but usually found to vary somewhat. It must be 

 clearly understood that although this species is very destructive, the family of 

 ladybirds to which it belongs are almost all useful predaceous beetles, which 

 feed on destructive scale insects and aphis — only a few species are destruc- 

 tive. It must not be confused with the Banded Pumpkin Beetle. 



It may be controlled by dusting the plants with tobacco and lime dust as 

 recommended above. 



