Vegetable Plant Lice 9 



The method of passing the winter has not as yet been determ- 

 ined, but it probably passes the cold season as an egg. The wingless 

 lice are found in late April and continue generation after generation 

 until cold weather. It usually reaches damaging numbers in the lat- 

 ter part of the season. It is perhaps the most rapid breeder among 

 the plant lice. 



The writer has observed this species in damaging numbers only 

 on turnips. Large areas in Monmouth County have suffered severely 

 from it. 



Melon Aphis 



(Aphis gossypii Glover) 



The exact location and the stage in which this insect passes the 

 winter is apparently not known, but it is probable that it winters on 

 various weeds in the egg stage. At any rate, colonies of the melon 

 plant louse are found on various weeds in early spring, and appar- 

 ently from these colonies the winged forms (again all are females) 

 fly into fields of melons, cucumbers and other cucurbits. 



Fig. 6 



Melon Aphis 



i — Adult winged female ; 2 — Immature female ; 3 — Adult wing- 

 less female 



Here again multiplication of numbers goes forward rapidly and 

 soon the lice are sufficiently abundant to sap the plants and make 

 them look sickly. A proportion of the summer broods is winged, 



