LIFE HISTORY OF THE SQUASH-YINE BORER. 



35 



As no technical description of the egg appears to have been published, 

 the notes which follow may properly begin with such description. 



THE EGG AND OVIPOSITION. 



Form oval, convex above, with a rather well-defined broad and more or 

 less impressed disc (see fig. 7, a). Surface of attachment flattened to the 

 object upon which the egg is deposited (see b). Color, dark, dull reddish 

 brown. Surface finely reticulate, divided into minute areas which 

 usually take the form of hexagons, as shown at c, but which are not 

 infrequently pentagons, heptagons, and even octagons. Each area 

 under a high power of the microscope is seen to be composed of many 

 smaller areas or pits. Length, 1 to 1.12 mm ; width, 0.76 to 0.90 mm . 



A group of three eggs is illustrated as deposited, about one-third 

 larger than natural size, at c of figure 8. 



Eggs that were laid July 

 15 hatched on the 21st, or 

 in six days. Those depos- 

 ited July 16 hatched July 

 22, beginning about 9 a. m., 

 in a little less than six 

 days. 



The female from which 

 these eggs were obtained 

 was confined in a cool, dark 

 room, except when in use 

 as a model for the illustra- 

 tion which is presented in 

 this article, and deposited 

 during the short time that 

 she was kept under observ- 

 ation 3 eggs July 15 and 54 the day following, the latter mostly just 

 before noon, and this while in close confinement under unfavorable con- 

 ditions. Prof. J. B. Smith, who has given the study of this species 

 considerable attention in New Jersey, records as high as 212 eggs dis- 

 sected from a single female. He also makes the statement that the 

 larvae appear in from twelve to fifteen days after the eggs are laid. 



Fig. 7. — Melittia satyriniformis : a, egg as seen from above; 

 &, same from the side showing sculpture ; c, sculpture of egg 

 greatly enlarged; d, newly-hatched larva; e, half-grown 

 larva; /, head of same from side; g, head of mature larva 

 from above; a, b, and d, much enlarged; e, f, and g, less 

 enlarged (original). 



THE LARVA. 



In the summer of 1897 it was noticed that the larvre of an apparently 

 second species were also at work within the stems of squash. These 

 were much smaller and more slender than those of what were known 

 to be Melittia satyriniformis, but as they were not known to be differ- 

 ent species, no effort was made to preserve specimens or to rear them 

 at that time. 



The following year the same larvae were observed. Those who saw 

 them believed them to be a distinct species, but the writer was 

 extremely doubtful as to the possibility of two species being present on 



