380 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The beetle is about two-fifths inch long and half as wide, of a 

 bright yellow color with a black head and three black stripes on the 

 wing-covers. 



Life History. The beetles hibernate over winter in the ground 

 where they have been feeding the previous fall, -or along the edge of 

 woodlands, or wherever suitable shelter is obtained, and emerge 

 in the spring two or three weeks before cucurbs are planted. At 



this season they seem to feed on al- 

 most anything, as they have been 

 observed feeding on a long list of 

 food-plants, freque ting flowers whose 

 petals are eaten. As soon as squash, 

 melons, or cucumbers break through 

 the soil, they gather upon them and 

 refuse all other food. If the foliage is 

 covered with any offensive substance 

 they will seek out spots which have 

 not been reached and feed upon them, 

 which fact is of importance in con- 

 sidering remedies. After feeding upon 

 cucurbs for a few days the beetles pair 

 and the females commence to deposit 

 FIG. 275. Larva of striped eggs. The eggs are deposited singly 



cucumber beetle at work aru { are me rely dropped in crevices of 



in cucumber stem. (Photo . . 



by Headlee.) the soil or in the opening around the 



stem of the plant. The egg is oval, 



about one-fortieth inch long, bright yellow, and sculptured with 

 microscopic hexagonal pits. A female lays about one hundred 

 eggs during a period of a month, and they hatch in about eight 

 days at a mean temperature of 74 F. The larva is a slender, 

 white, worm-like grub, about three-tenths inch long, with dark- 

 brown head and anal-plate, and lighter brown thorax. The larvae 

 bore into the roots, often tunneling into the base of the stem, and 

 sometimes mine into melons lying on damp soil. Rarely does 

 injury by the Iarva3 become noticeable, though we have observed 

 whole patches of cucumber and melon vines killed by them, which 



