400 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



intervals. Otherwise the squash will merely augment the injury, as 

 the larva) will migrate to the crop. Careful tests of this method 

 showed almost complete protection to muskmelons. The use of 



FIG. 289. Pickle worms at work on a cucumber. (Photo by Quaintance.) 



arsenicals has been of little value against this pest as far as tested, 

 but as they should be applied to control the next species, may be 

 of some incidental value. 



The Melon Caterpillar * 



This species is very similar to the last in life history and habits 

 and is very commonly confused with it. It seems to be injurious 

 only in the Gulf States, though the moths have been taken from 

 Canada to Central America. The moth is a beautiful insect with 

 wings of a pearly iridescent whiteness, bordered with brownish- 

 black and expanding about an inch. The anterior half of the 

 thorax and head is the same color as the wing border, while the 

 abdomen is white, tinged with brownish toward the tip, which is 

 surmounted by a brush of long dark scales. The larva? are very 

 similar to those of the pickle worm , and the life history so far as 

 ascertained seems to be practically the same. The essential differ- 



* Diaphania hyalinita Linn. Family Pyraustidce. See A. L. Quaintance, 

 Bulletin 45, Geo. Agr. Exp. Ste., p, 42; R. I. Smith, Bulletin 214, N. C. 

 Agr. Exp, Sta, 



