INSECTS INJURIOUS TO GARDEN TRUCK 487 



young tender plants. The eggs are laid in the soil about the 

 food plant, and the slender white larvae feed on the roots, 

 sometimes doing considerable damage there. As the adult 

 hibernates in the ground or in rubbish in the field, all of the 

 vines should be destroyed as soon as the crop is off. The most 

 practicable method of protecting the young vines is to cover 

 them with a screen that will keep the beetles away. Early 

 squash or beans may be planted as trap-crops so that the 

 insects will be attracted to these while the 

 other vines are getting well started. Air- 

 slaked lime, tobacco dust or other powders 

 thoroughly dusted over the plants, afford 

 some protection, especially if some untreated 

 trap-crop is near-by. 



Squash -bug (Anasa tristis). This rather 

 large, flattened, blackish bug is often found 

 sucking the sap from the leaves of various 

 vegetables, but it is found most commonly 

 on squash vines. The adults hibernate in 

 the garden and appear early in the summer. 

 The eggs are laid on the underside of the 

 leaves. The wingless young or nymphs also 

 feed on the leaves. In the south there may 

 be two or even three generations during the year. The in- 

 sects may be gathered and destroyed, and the egg masses 

 may be easily crushed on the leaves. Shingles or boards or 

 leaves placed on the ground near the plants make good 

 hiding places for the adults, and if such traps are examined 

 in the evening and early morning many of the bugs may be 

 found and killed. 



The Squash-vine Borer (Melittia satyriniformis) . Often 

 the squash vines wilt and die because of the attacks of a whitish, 

 black-headed larva that bores into them. Other vines may also 

 suffer, but the late varieties of squash seem to suffer most. 

 The borers may attack almost any part of the vine, but do 

 most damage when they are working in the base, for they may 

 then destroy the whole vine. The adult is one of the clear- 

 winged moths (family Sesiidce}, looking somewhat like the 



FIG. 231. The 

 cucumber - beetle, 

 Dial) r otic a 12- 

 punctata. (Three 

 times natural 

 size.) 



