218 ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE STRIPED SQUASH BEETLE. ° 
in spite of the best directed preventative efforts, we should have 
the roots of these vines greatly injured by the larve. I looked 
frequently but found scarcely any larve on the roots. The proper 
time to look for the first young larvæ is when the vine is about be- 
ginning to run out over the ground. If the root is and has been 
free from them, it will be smooth and white, but if affected, its 
surface, and the surface of the lower part of the stem beneath the 
ground will appear rough and rust colored. We might speak of 
all that part of the plant beneath the surface of the ground as 
root without much impropriety, for in due time it assumes a true 
root structure, but at this early age the true root is only found 
below where the seed lies, and above this point it is stem. 
I was greatly surprised at finding no larvæ, inasmuch as the per- 
fect insects were swarming among the squash and other vines, now ` 
so largely grown as not to require close precautions against the 
perfect insects, on account of what they might eat themselves. A 
Fig. 61. few of these beetles will soon ruin 
the plants by their own feeding 
bn : mi when the seed leaves alone are 
il developed, but after the third or 
res I fourth set of true leaves appear, 
a “. the growth is so rapid that many 
beetles may be supplied with 
Striped Squash Beetle, larva and pupa. food without great damage to the 
vines. But still at this time the larve often do great damage to 
the plants, and therefore the perfect insects must be kept away if 
possible (hungry bugs, however, are very hard to manage, and 
will brave much opposition rather than starve), especially if the 
plants are scarce, for where the perfect insects abound we usually 
expect that eggs will be deposited. 
But on this particular occasion there was an abundance of vine 
plants, four or five times as many as were needed for the ground. 
The prudent gardener who is acquainted with the depredations of 
these notorious pests, will always plant ten times as many seeds as 
the plants he needs, so that he will have not only enough for the. 
parent insects that he may not have time or ability to keep away, 
but also for the larve that they will thrust upon his unwilling care. 
We had then an abundance of good healthy vines, but still it ap- 
peared necessary to keep an observing eye upon them lest the larve 
should destroy too many of them, the weather being so dry and 
