384 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



show a distinct yellowish-brown or pale salmon-colored area just 

 in front of the honey-tubes and a dark transverse band between 

 them. The nymphs of the last stage, in which the wing pads are 

 visible, are marked on the back with little flecks of silvery white, 

 waxy bloom. The winged female is about the same length and the 

 wings expand one-fifth to one-quarter inch. The color varies as 



\ 



FIG. 277. The melon aphis (Aphis gossypii Glov.): a, winged female; aa, 

 enlarged antenna of same; ab, dark female, side view, sucking juice 

 from leaf; b, young nymph; c, last stage of nymph of winged form; 

 d, wingless female greatly enlarged. (After Chittenden, U. S. D. Agr.) 



in the wingless form, but there are black spots along the sides 

 of the abdomen, and the head and thorax are dark as shown in 

 Fig. 277. 



The melon-aphis is found throughout the country southward 

 through Central America, and though it often does serious damage 

 in the North it is worse in the South. It has a long list of food 

 plants, among the crops injured by it being all the cucurbs, cotton, 



